Advanced Essay #3 "Identity & Belonging

Identity is who you are. Belonging is wanting to be associated with a certain group. I believe a feeling of belonging is being with society as a whole, and someone belonging is them wanting to be with the rest of society. But can we fully belong to something? And if we do, is it to ourselves or society?

Society can and cannot co-exist with identity because that's what you are, rather than belonging to society. It can when you fit a standard in a certain belonging. For example, if you belong to a church. and the church is against homosexuality.  There was a boy named danny that belonged to a church in his neighborhood. He was cast aside by the church when he come out as gay, and didn't want to get “treated” for a mental disorder like the church suggested. “​Danny’s church would either recommend celibacy or reparative therapy—a widely discredited form of treatment that identifies homosexuality as a mental disorder with the goal of converting people to heterosexuality—to congregants who identified themselves as gay or lesbian.” Because Danny couldn’t fit into this type of society, he was shunned and cast aside because he classified as something different than the church's beliefs. Looking closely, it looks like if someone doesn’t agree with the rest of society, they will throw anyone who disagrees away. Danny fully belongs to himself, accepting his identity. Even though he does not belong to the church anymore.

A a referee that was openly gay faced a lot of criticism from people in society. He was harassed by a player from a team. The player was suspended but that did not erase the thought that there is still hate from others. “I’ve seen myself and not because of anything you did.” This ref believed in himself instead of what society thinks. He continued his job. He chose himself over society. Here, the worth of society is not valued. The Ref stuck with his identity and didn’t change himself from the criticism and harassment he received.

Anyone that is poor is unfortunate. Of course they don’t want to identify as being in the low class. But that’s where they belong. This world consists of people who want money, such as taxes for the government. When you are expected to pay money for something, but don’t have it, you are looked down upon. “ It’s the same type of problem poor people encounter every day, multiple times: The demands of the moment override the demands of the future, making that future harder to reach.” A poor person’s goal is to be able to have money like the middle class can, or even be rich. But people in society put pressure on these people to do better to achieve that goal. This is because they are already struggling with not having money, but now they are expected to pay things like everyone else even though they can’t. Belonging and identity co-exist here because this person identifies as poor (unfortunately), and they belong in the low class since they don’t have money.

American is one of the most proud countries in the world. We, unlike many, have patriotism. In which we are very serious and interested in our country's politics. But because of that, we look down on people who live in America and identify as something other than American. Olympic athletes were criticized for playing for other countries when they are American.“For an event that represents so much national pride, where victories or defeats live in lore for decades, many athletes will represent another country, either because of heritage or because it may be the only way they could compete in the games.” These competitors tried out for countries their heritage is from because they wanted to compete for their ancestors, or it was their only chance to compete in the Olympic. To make the American team is really hard, even if you are a powerful athlete. These athletes choose to identify as another country, since they have it in their blood. They belong to play for American some would think. But they identify for another country. For this, many Americans criticize them. “In the eyes of the athletes competing under the flag of a country that’s not home, they’re competing in the Olympic spirit as much as anyone else.” It is an honor to be in the Olympics. Athletes will take any chance they get to make it their. Therefore, Identity and belonging do not co-exist here.