Who Are We?

Something got me thinking this morning about the question "who am I" and how we'd answer it. There are plenty of answers:

"Judy's son."
"Jack's brother."
"Dena's husband."
"An actuary."
"A basketball coach."
"The guitarist."
"The third guy from the left."

It struck me that all of these answers depend on the existence of others. The answer "A 155 pound male with blue eyes and brown hair parted on the side" is interesting only to the DMV, or maybe a scientist. At heart, our meaningful existence seems dependent on our relationship to others. Sometimes I've thought that I could be perfectly happy playing video games or fantasy baseball, but for me that's a fleeting illusion. And just as nothing is more important than my relationships with others, I've found nothing as helpful to a healthy relationship than to hold them in their best light no matter how tense our current circumstances might be. Circumstances fade, while scars do not.