Yo Soy Yo y Mi Circunstancia

One of the things from Spanish literature that made an impression on me was José Ortega y Gasset's statement "Yo soy yo y mi curcunstancia." This helps me to understand somewhat how I am the way I am. We are a combination of ourselves and our upbringing. Sometimes it seems like my sisters and I grew up in different families. This was in a small house. I have talked with the sister with who I am living concerning our childhood and our relationships with our parents. She commented that it was like we had different parents. They treated both of us differently. We were also very different from each other even in childhood. She was the more rebellious one then. Now she is the more conservative one. All three of my sisters share some character traits. We were all three afraid of getting fat when we were growing, and we have continued to struggle with this. I was overly protected when I was growing up, and I was not allowed to work during the school year or during summer vacation. My sisters were encouraged to work, part-time jobs during the school year and jobs during the summer. My mother and sisters always mowed the grass, because my mother did not want my allergies to be bothered. I always felt that our father loved us but was not very good at showing his love. He was always excited to give us gifts to us and worried about us when he did not know where we were. My sister said that she never felt loved by him. My younger sisters were more popular in school than I was. I was bullied frequently. I was smaller than the other children my age, and I was never shy about liking things that no one else liked. I think that my personality and the environment at home and at school together formed who I am today. There were people at college and years since who have helped form who I am. That statement by Ortega y Gasset is one of the cores of my personal philosophy.