No one is a single thing

Over the years of my life I have met and interacted with countless people and one thing is common to them all; none of them were, or are, one single thing; this is something I was contemplating over the last week or so as I spent some time dealing with the nicest, most genuine people and having to deal with the most reprehensible, disgusting and horrid creatures as well.

I recall a conversation from a long time ago with a group of people who have work to towards dealing with bad people, finding and dealing with them in various (mostly-violent-but-government-sanctioned) ways and remember that the question of, can a bad person also be good and can a good person also be bad, arose and, of course those people and myself included, agreed that they can.

Of course, that begs the question, what is good and bad, but on the surface of it I guess it underpins my thoughts that no person is ever a single thing.

The original thought of no person being one single thing relates to all of us in all aspects of life, in my opinion. Think about who a person is with their children, their partner and family, as opposed to the person they may be with their work peers and their managers, within the scope of their job, with their sporting club team-mates, strangers they meet and interact with, in their home town and city as opposed to a foreign country where they don't speak the language. Imagine a person in a peace-time situation as opposed to them in a warzone or when they are physically and mentally healthy as opposed to being unwell; it's the same person throughout, but one who will probably apply different versions of themselves, different thoughts, attitudes and actions depending on the situation.

I think this is a very interesting topic and, when the statement is applied to me...well, I'm no different; I am not just one thing, I am many, and which one is relevant depends upon the situation.

I believe we all apply an element of this in our lives and some do it better than others; it probably leads to a better life too even if the application of some aspect of our personality has a negative effect - failure is a great opportunity to assess, evaluate, plan, strategize and regroup for another try - as that negative effect may led us to a greater result next time, or at least a better version of ourselves or a better understanding.

I wonder how many things or versions I am and what they may be - I suppose something I'll only know after my life has played out in full. I know who I am generally of course and I live my life around it however your perception, the person who only sees me through a Hive post, may differ from my own perception or that of someone who knows me well. So, you can't really answer the question of who I am without making it up for yourself...but you can know who you are, and how many different versions of you there are.

If you're inclined to, feel free to comment below. You may like to open up about your perception of yourself, the various facets that make up who you are, or you may like to denigrate me for whatever your perception of me is; either way, feel free to comment.