Defining Categories and the Tread of Commitment Essay

Defining Categories and the Tread of Commitment - Essay Example I suppose that seeing a list of these pieces of my life is enough to assume certain things that are between the lines of the listed items. For example, being male, white, upper class and having access to our highly successful family business means that I lead a life of privilege, to some extent. Being Christian, specifically Baptist, means that I have a well-shaped sense of morality and a well-developed conscience. Being Republican and having a successful family business means that I am pro-business and believe in the importance of hard work, planning and self-sufficiency. Being young and university educated means that I have dreams and a set of skills to attain them. Being male, in these times, is often confusing. As a Christian male, I am called to leadership in family, church and community. As an ambassador of Christ, I must always set a high example to others. I have a strong responsibility to protect family, church and community, with dedication and integrity, as a soldier of Ch rist. My first loyalty, my first priority, is to God and not to worldly success or social status (Community Christian Alliance Church, nd). On the other hand, as a family businessman, I am expected to work toward increasing success, attract more business and more money, and be dedicated to the goals of our company, while still remembering that my real treasure is Christ and salvation. As a male student, I am expected to relate to other students I meet out in the world, neighbors and people I bump into somehow. I am sometimes presented with temptations and distractions that conflict with Baptist Christian values. I spend a lot of time supporting our family’s international software business, so my priorities are not totally aligned with those of many students I meet. As a 22 year old, I do not always feel confident in my leadership and ability to protect. The information I get from films, newspaper and the news tells me just how complicated the world is, and I wonder how my par ents are sure that the answers they have chosen for our family are the right ones. I have no complaints about those answers. I fit into them comfortably enough and they feel right as I live them. But I have thought, sometimes, about how, if I had been born into a different family, even a family very opposite to my own, I would have different values and maybe a different religion and I would think in a totally different way. Or if I had been adopted, and still had the same genetic material I have now, but was just raised by different people, in a different social class, maybe by Democrats or maybe by a father who works in a factory or perhaps by a single mother, then who would I be? What would I believe? How would I behave? I can give myself a headache, just thinking of all the possibilities! Fortunately I am happy to be who I am. I enjoy my studies and my work. I am interested in keeping up with the political situation in our country and abroad. I find it fascinating to gain glimpse s into other cultures, other ways of doing things. Our software business operates nationally and internationally and handles contracts in the public and government sectors, so I gain a broader exposure to the world around me than some young people my age. It also gives me an opportunity to form opinions which are an