Definition Please?

The Ateneo asked, "Are there any significant experiences you have had or accomplishments you have realized that have helped define you as a person?"

Her head cocked to the side in an expression of puzzled thoughtfulness, she momentarily drifted away and soon returned to her present reality with a one-sided shrug "No, not really. Why?"

I don't see myself defined by anything that has happened these past seventeen years. Rather, I see the reverse. I define whatever is presented to me, noting its scope in my life and what it means to me, instead of allowing it to define itself.

Where would I be if I let a failure or a disappointment define itself as such? I look at it as a rueful learning experience, and keep it in stock for future reference. At the same time, how would I be if I took my accomplishments and triumphs as they were? If I didn't know them as blessings, would I end up obsessing over the number of medals and trophies that have my name engraved on it?

I could've written about my school's drama club, or Days with the Lord. I would've dug up my debate team history, should I have been inclined to do so. I was a fellow at the 6th Barlaya Writing for Young Adults Workshop, the youngest in a carefully selected group of eight; that definitely says something about this budding writer. I don't want this to end up a litany of chronologically listed accomplishments, though; no matter how interestingly I try to word it, a litany's a litany. That's what resumes are for.

In the same way the resumes deal with academic and employment history, so does a dictionary deal with definitions. Definitions give objective meaning behind words and terms. An individual, from his name to his entire person, is far too complex for something this simple.

Definition please? Thanks, but I'll pass.

I believe that no one can be defined by anything, not by race or creed, word or deed . The power to define, to delineate, to decide, is ours. The reason of living is living with a reason. We have our lives, now we have to find our reasons.

Undefined. This is what we all are, in one way or another. Undefined is what I am and what I will always be, and this is something that I am proud to declare.

Being undefined does not necessarily mean a lack of value or direction. When something is undefined, it is not precisely limited, distinguished and determined. I am undefined. This, however, is not a bad thing. While I may not be able to determine my place in the universe, nor am I able to distinguish my fate from that of any other seventeen-year-old's, the beauty of this definition by lack of definition is that I find myself unbound from any sort of limitation.