By Scott Shephard

If I didn’t know you and walked up to you asked, “Who are you?" you would probably say your name. But if I, looking a little puzzled, said, “That’s not what I meant. What I really want to know is who are you? Put another way, what makes you who you are?” How would you answer that? Take a few minutes to ponder that and then read on.

When I look at this photo of me, taken in 1972 by my girlfriend Debbie at her grandparents’ abandoned farm near Miller, I’d have to say that I don’t really know this person. I do know that he loved books. He loved learning. He loved photography. He really loved Debbie. And I think he was profoundly happy. Not being particularly visionary, he didn’t have plans other than going to college and maybe marrying Debbie. He certainly had no clue about the kind of future that lay ahead.

I’m 66 now - 48 years older than the person pictured here. Genetically, we’re still the same but physically, not so much. I have cut my hair, I have fewer hairs to cut, and I can no longer fit into Levis with a 32” waist, to name a few. And, at age 66, I have a lot of answers to questions that I wasn’t asking when I was 18.

The most important question is: Who am I? I won’t bore you with personal, private details. I will say that, like you, I am the child of my parents and all who who came before them in my family tree. To name a few, I am 48% British, 21% Scandanavian and 18% Eastern European. With those, throw in a pinch of African and Native American. And into that genetic soup you need to toss in pre-programmed likes and dislikes, phobias, abilities and inclinations. I am well aware that our genetic make-up has tremendous importance in shaping who we are. It is the nature part of the nature/nurture duality.

But beyond genetics, I am a product of all I have experienced. Everything I’ve read, everything I’ve seen, touched, tasted or heard has shaped who I am today. It’s interesting to me that while I can’t change my genetics, I can change what I experience. That’s certainly true of you, too.

At age 18 I was the tabula rasa (blank tablet) that philosophers like Aristotle and Locke wrote about. And at age 66 I still am, but there are fewer empty pages in the tablet. I don’t know why I get goosebumps writing this right now, but it’s more than a little exciting to think that what I read, touch, taste, see and hear today will continue to shape who I am becoming. And genetics and fate willing, I have many years to keep “becoming.”

Some of you have heard me talk about this before in other contexts, but it occurs to me that we are all like the stream that the Greek philosopher Heraclitus described. He said that we could never step into the same stream twice because it is always changing.

If we live our lives right, we are like the stream and in a constant state of change, too. And, if we’re intentional (and a little lucky), we keep getting better

Honeywell Pentax SP500 film and exposure information unknown