I believe that there are several different roles that each person plays every day in order to get along in society. The different roles we play we have to conform to that social group that we are in at that time. For instance, I have different roles I play everyday. The roles change who I am depending on the responsibility and others that I’m around. My roles are mother, girlfriend, daughter, friend, employee, neighbor, and a Christian, to name of few.
Each role that I play in life changes my responsibility allowing me to be different in those roles. We all believe that we are one person, and we are but there are so many facets to that one person in order for us to get along within our own societies that we may be in. And in these roles our responsibilities change.
First and foremost I’m a mother. When I spend time with my family, in this role I’m a leader. I’m a single parent and make decisions for my children. I have to be responsible as I have two children that are dependent on me. I have to make decide on if we spend family time together, clean the house, whatever is needed. I’m the role model that is looked up to. So I need to act accordingly what is expected of me as a parent. My expectations of what my role is are from what society has allowed us and what my own expectations are. As a parent I have to be responsible enough to have a home to live in, pay my bills so we have water and electricity. To make sure that my children are fed and have clothes to wear.
As a parent I have another role I have as a parent is to be accountable to others to make sure my children get the education they need. So, I go to meetings when asked at school to help my children grow responsibly. I also am responsible to teach my children what good roles they can play in society and help and guide them through their growing years. Although my daughter is in college this year and my son is in high school I still play the same role but it is different as they have gotten older. I’m still responsible in most ways but they are also becoming more independent. As a mother I have to learn to let go.
As a role of a girlfriend, I am totally different than being a mother. I don’t have to make all the decisions. I can be playful, mature, immature, demanding, and carefree if I care to. I have someone that I can go to the movies with, go out to dinner, or just stay home and relax with. I don’t have to be a role model. As a girlfriend I can have the kid in me if I need to or I can be a responsible adult, depending on the situation. And what the expectations of my boyfriend would be. My boyfriend and I have learned to conform to each other or it wouldn’t work.
As a daughter, my role is different in the fact that if I chose, I can be a dependent as my parents were always the ones in charge. When I’m with them I don’t have any responsibilities except to be myself. I can go to my parents without judgment and be able to get advice or any help that I may need for me to play the other roles in society that I am. If I have a problem I can go to them and be a kid once again. I know they will still love me and except me for who or what I am.
This makes me feel at home and comfortable as a daughter. However, as I get older, this role is also changing as my parents are changing and are becoming more vulnerable. I see myself in a couple of years switching our roles as me becoming their parent.
Another role that I have is the role as a friend. I have a best friend that I have had for 41 years. We met at 9 years old and have been best friends ever since. She is someone that I can spend time with and there are no expectations of either of us. We can share anything and even though we are opposite of one another we still can give total support of each other. We have no judgment of each other and have always been there.
If I ever needed help that I felt that I didn’t want my parents to know she would be there for me just as I would be there for her. Her family is like a second family to me. I can call her mother up and spend time with her similar to my own mother.
In a role as an employee, I am responsible to my employers to be honest and work the best I can. I don’t play the role of a boss but I do have responsibilities as a person in management. In order to be a good employee I have to make sure that when I’m on their time that I’m professional at all times and doing what is asked of me.
I make sure I wear the clothes that are asked of me. I’m also responsible while at work of a lot of money and have to make sure that the money is where it is suppose to be at all times. I’m in locked doors with the camera on at all times so I have to make sure that even though I may not be with someone but I am to be professional at all times.
In the role as a neighbor, I make sure that I’m friendly at all times and if needed I am there for them. I am responsible to keep my yard clean and mowed. I make sure my children keep their music down and make sure my dogs are kept in my yard and not barking constantly. With my neighbors I don’t show any negativism and always keep them at a neutral level. My neighbors are not my friends but I will be cordial to them in order to get along in the neighborhood.
I don’t allow them to know the real me, just as a nice friendly person. The reason for this is that we do live close to the neighbors and I don’t want them into our lives all the time. It would be hard to get away if the friendship doesn’t work out.
I’m quite the opposite when I play the role as a Christian. I go to church and am friendly. I am mostly quiet and positive and at times am reflective. If there needs to be something done I may volunteer my time. I don’t share too much with others as I don’t feel comfortable with others knowing my personal life. I feel if others at church know me too well that they will consider me a person that is not what a Christian should be and I don’t want to be judged. As a Christian I play a person that can be looked up to.
When I was younger I used to be in what was considered a cult. I was told how or what to do things and was controlled in most of my aspects of life. I decided the role I play as a Christian will not allow me to become controlled with how I am as a person or if I give all my money to an organization ever again in my life. I don’t want Christians to know me because then that will allow them to control and hurt my family and myself. As Christian I’m expected to go to church. This is what I think my society is expects of me if I play the role of Christian.
In all these roles I have I play a different dimension of myself. I have the same ethical beliefs, same fears, same goals, but I play the role that works for me in my role depending on who I’m with. For instance, I will not act as an employee in my home or when I’m at church but I may act as a girlfriend or a parent when I’m home or at church.
So the different dimensions may or may not cross each other depending on what role I need to play at any given moment. Society can be complicated but for me as an individual but to survive as a culture my different roles change so that I can work with the different responsibilities I may have in life.
Hiya Vickles. How are you doing (these days)??
Once I broke that up into paragraphs -- it was read-able.
Good stuff!! (although my old eyes took a beating *reading it in the original!!)
As I read it, the thought occurred to me that in The Way, we were expected to be the "same" person regardless of the situation.
Kinda like a robot that always performs in a predictable fashion.
"Walk The Word"---"The Word is your focus"---"The Word is at stake"----etc.
That's not normal and it's not healthy.
One of the things I like about GreaseSpot, is the freedom to express a wide variety of opinions; to explore different facets of the personality; to see how another person may view a subject in a completely different light than myself; to see that sometimes the line between right and wrong is a fuzzy one, at best.
Thanks for making my old brain see it in written form.
When I was in Jr. high one day we got sent home from school early. I walk into our yard and the curtains in the big window in front of the house are closed. Hmm. THIS is unusual. I wonder what's going on.
I open the side door to go in as always and I hear loud big band style music coming from the stereo in the living room. So I walk in there and lo and behold, my mom has the vacuum placed in the center of the room and she's dancing the jitter bug (or something like that) while pretending that the vacuum is her dance partner. She wasn't naked, but she saw me and got all embarrassed and would never talk to me about it.
My initial response was "Whoa, Mom. All RIGHT! You go!" but this raised questions. My dad had been dead for a few years and I wondered how often she did this. She wasn't given to religious superstitions, but she may have thought that my dad was monitoring her life from beyond the grave. She lived 32 years after he died and never remarried. I also now wonder which of her "me's" was this an extention of?
Possibly it was a combination of mother and homemaker and widow. Here she was trying to make her home a presentable place for me, the other person who lived there, and anyone else who might drop by, but that vacuum became a vehicle for SIN!!!!! It wasn't her fault; it was that damn vacuum.
OK, it must now be obvious where I was going with this, but I'm chickening out. Not going to go there. You can't make me.
Ok David, it was written with paragraphs and double spaced but somehow when sent on greasespot it didn't do that.
Waysider, I totally understand, that is why this was so interesting to me. If anyone has a chance and is interested I strongly encourage you to take a sociology class. I understood a lot more about myself and how things were in twi. Why we allowed it to control us in some ways. It is ok to have many me's. Even though twi told me I was possessed I found that it is quite normal to be this way...
Hey White dove, I've been busy with my many roles. When I've been on I've seen you either on the cell (which I don't want to use your minutes up) or you are sitting idle and not there. So, my dear friend, you better speak to me one of these days.... :P
Of course, Vickles, you're welcome. Given the many conversations you and I have had about sociology, psychology, and etc., I love reading others' stuff!
I'm so thrilled you enjoyed the class, it was one of my favorites too, although taken a long time ago and answered a few questions for me as well.
Of course, Vickles, you're welcome. Given the many conversations you and I have had about sociology, psychology, and etc., I love reading others' stuff!
I'm so thrilled you enjoyed the class, it was one of my favorites too, although taken a long time ago and answered a few questions for me as well.
Cool that you got answers from it also.
Hey Shell, I have to ask this Who in the heck is that pic of? I hope its not you? :unsure:
I took sociology about thirty years ago in my early college life. I found it very confusing. But then I am a science, math, engineer type.... very strong ISTJ on the Meyers Briggs scale. I think I would need a definition of what you consider a "me" to begin to understand your essay.
Glad you are finding your class useful and enjoyable. Learning is such an adventure.
The expression is 'we all wear many hats' referring to the roles we play in life. I think a "me" is one of those roles.
I took a sociology class. I thought my teacher was born of the wrong seed. Still not sure she isn't. But the class material was interesting. I think I'm a 'unfrozen hunting and gathering person'.
That would be interesting...vacuum nakee out side at a Texas BBQ. Are you sure its just a BBQ? It sounds kind of like Hippy Hollow to me in Austin.
I wouldn't mind going to a nudist colony.
Thanks for the response on my paper. I enjoyed writing it and I did get a 100 % on my paper with a thank you note from my professor. He was the hardest professor I have ever had and at the end to grade my last paper with the 100% was quite an honor.
I think it's a very good paper. It puts me very strongly in mind of an article that we used this month in my class, James Paul Gee's "An Intro to Discourse Analysis," which I've just attempted to upload to this response. If it didn't load, I have no idea what to do about that, not being very technical. But I'd be happy to send it to you in an e-mail.
Gee says that we all belong to several different discourse communities, "discourse" being the general theme of the community. There is a proper "way" to be a skateboarder, a punk rocker, a soccer mom, a waitress. For each, there is a lexicon. For instance, in the Navy, it's a "head," in my house, it's a "bathroom," and in the mall, it's a "restroom." We have overlapping communities, and we know and follow the rules by which each community is defined. Our core identity (who we are when we're alone) goes with us into each discourse community.
Thanks so much. The paper came up but is a little hard to read so am going to the library to see if I make a copy I can read it. It looks pretty good. I appreciate that.
I didn't know you were in school too. What are you taking?
Vickles (my vacuuming friend) she doesn't "take" courses... she "gives" them... she's a highly respected and 'very well thought of by her students' per-fesser at the University of Oklahoma!
of course, it is Oklahoma, but that doesn't discount it too much...
I wear so many hats that I sometimes get confused about what I am doing right in the middle of it; and oh, what ever could possibly be next :huh: ...yikes...! Life is either too fast or too slow sometimes!
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Shellon
I like it
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dmiller
Hiya Vickles.
How are you doing (these days)??
Once I broke that up into paragraphs -- it was read-able.
Good stuff!! (although my old eyes took a beating *reading it in the original!!)
David
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polar bear
Hey Vickles- It's all about "me' isn't it. LOL -good stuff.
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Belle
Very good, Vickles!
David, thanks for breaking it up into paragraphs. :)
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waysider
Thanks, Vickles
As I read it, the thought occurred to me that in The Way, we were expected to be the "same" person regardless of the situation.
Kinda like a robot that always performs in a predictable fashion.
"Walk The Word"---"The Word is your focus"---"The Word is at stake"----etc.
That's not normal and it's not healthy.
One of the things I like about GreaseSpot, is the freedom to express a wide variety of opinions; to explore different facets of the personality; to see how another person may view a subject in a completely different light than myself; to see that sometimes the line between right and wrong is a fuzzy one, at best.
Thanks for making my old brain see it in written form.
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johniam
When I was in Jr. high one day we got sent home from school early. I walk into our yard and the curtains in the big window in front of the house are closed. Hmm. THIS is unusual. I wonder what's going on.
I open the side door to go in as always and I hear loud big band style music coming from the stereo in the living room. So I walk in there and lo and behold, my mom has the vacuum placed in the center of the room and she's dancing the jitter bug (or something like that) while pretending that the vacuum is her dance partner. She wasn't naked, but she saw me and got all embarrassed and would never talk to me about it.
My initial response was "Whoa, Mom. All RIGHT! You go!" but this raised questions. My dad had been dead for a few years and I wondered how often she did this. She wasn't given to religious superstitions, but she may have thought that my dad was monitoring her life from beyond the grave. She lived 32 years after he died and never remarried. I also now wonder which of her "me's" was this an extention of?
Possibly it was a combination of mother and homemaker and widow. Here she was trying to make her home a presentable place for me, the other person who lived there, and anyone else who might drop by, but that vacuum became a vehicle for SIN!!!!! It wasn't her fault; it was that damn vacuum.
OK, it must now be obvious where I was going with this, but I'm chickening out. Not going to go there. You can't make me.
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WhiteDove
Hey Vickles
Which me is Froggy? You know the one that NEVER talks to me on messenger anymore........
:(
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vickles
Ok David, it was written with paragraphs and double spaced but somehow when sent on greasespot it didn't do that.
Waysider, I totally understand, that is why this was so interesting to me. If anyone has a chance and is interested I strongly encourage you to take a sociology class. I understood a lot more about myself and how things were in twi. Why we allowed it to control us in some ways. It is ok to have many me's. Even though twi told me I was possessed I found that it is quite normal to be this way...
Hey White dove, I've been busy with my many roles. When I've been on I've seen you either on the cell (which I don't want to use your minutes up) or you are sitting idle and not there. So, my dear friend, you better speak to me one of these days.... :P
Thanks Shell!!!!!
Johniam, I love to vaccuum nakee.
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Shellon
Of course, Vickles, you're welcome. Given the many conversations you and I have had about sociology, psychology, and etc., I love reading others' stuff!
I'm so thrilled you enjoyed the class, it was one of my favorites too, although taken a long time ago and answered a few questions for me as well.
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vickles
Cool that you got answers from it also.
Hey Shell, I have to ask this
Who in the heck is that pic of? I hope its not you? :unsure:
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YID
I'm my own grand-pa!
That's all I have to say about that.
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Scout Finch02
I took sociology about thirty years ago in my early college life. I found it very confusing. But then I am a science, math, engineer type.... very strong ISTJ on the Meyers Briggs scale. I think I would need a definition of what you consider a "me" to begin to understand your essay.
Glad you are finding your class useful and enjoyable. Learning is such an adventure.
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johniam
The expression is 'we all wear many hats' referring to the roles we play in life. I think a "me" is one of those roles.
I took a sociology class. I thought my teacher was born of the wrong seed. Still not sure she isn't. But the class material was interesting. I think I'm a 'unfrozen hunting and gathering person'.
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Shellon
Nah, just some halloween yard decoration fun
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vickles
Johniam, your right its about the many hats or roles we play in society. I'm sorry for some that took it so deeply. Its a very on the surface writing.
Shell, well that butte looks very real......
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Tom Strange
dangit vickles! you beat me to it! ...you knew I was going to ask you what role you were playing when vacuuming didn't you!?!
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vickles
My dear ole buddy Tom Strange finally answers.......
Someone actually asked me if I really do vacuum nakee.....
I ain't tellin.... 
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Edi
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Tom Strange
You could just invite them over for some house cleaning and a snowcone!
Ya know... you could come on down to the Texas BBQ... and Sunday is 'clean up' day!
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vickles
That would be interesting...vacuum nakee out side at a Texas BBQ. Are you sure its just a BBQ? It sounds kind of like Hippy Hollow to me in Austin.
I wouldn't mind going to a nudist colony.
Thanks for the response on my paper. I enjoyed writing it and I did get a 100 % on my paper with a thank you note from my professor. He was the hardest professor I have ever had and at the end to grade my last paper with the 100% was quite an honor.
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notinKansasanymore
Hi, Vickles!
I think it's a very good paper. It puts me very strongly in mind of an article that we used this month in my class, James Paul Gee's "An Intro to Discourse Analysis," which I've just attempted to upload to this response. If it didn't load, I have no idea what to do about that, not being very technical. But I'd be happy to send it to you in an e-mail.
Gee says that we all belong to several different discourse communities, "discourse" being the general theme of the community. There is a proper "way" to be a skateboarder, a punk rocker, a soccer mom, a waitress. For each, there is a lexicon. For instance, in the Navy, it's a "head," in my house, it's a "bathroom," and in the mall, it's a "restroom." We have overlapping communities, and we know and follow the rules by which each community is defined. Our core identity (who we are when we're alone) goes with us into each discourse community.
Anyway, I like your paper. Nice job.
James_Paul_Gee__An_Intro_to_Discourse_Analysis.pdf
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vickles
Thanks so much. The paper came up but is a little hard to read so am going to the library to see if I make a copy I can read it. It looks pretty good. I appreciate that.
I didn't know you were in school too. What are you taking?
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Tom Strange
Vickles (my vacuuming friend) she doesn't "take" courses... she "gives" them... she's a highly respected and 'very well thought of by her students' per-fesser at the University of Oklahoma!
of course, it is Oklahoma, but that doesn't discount it too much...
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RainbowsGirl
I wear so many hats that I sometimes get confused about what I am doing right in the middle of it; and oh, what ever could possibly be next :huh: ...yikes...! Life is either too fast or too slow sometimes!
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