Get Your ROLE On. Playing Multiple Roles.

Essay by KaluCollege, UndergraduateA, May 2002

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Faith is a major aspect of any religion, and my role as a devotee requires me to give full faith towards God. Faith is the only answer to situations that do not seem logical. However, most importantly, faith can only be proven by following the rules set for by God himself. One does not question God, if he believes him to be the supreme God, or the highest spirit. This may seem like blind faith to some, but in a way, we are blind. We do not see the reasons for all the occurrences of nature. We do not understand why good people die, however we fail to realize that maybe they are going to a better place. As human beings, we fall victims to our minds, our own logical reasoning, and to our social situations and their inherent "performances."

Erving Goffman speaks on this subject of everyday social interaction, the impact of environment, and the psychology of the individual.

He mentions that social interaction can be viewed as a sort of "performance," shaped by environment and audience, constructed to provide others with an "impression." Goffman provides new insight of how an individual, when establishing a social identity, utilizes the "front" which is described as "that part of the individual's performance which regularly functions in a general and fixed fashion to define the situation for those who observe the performance" (22).

Parallel to this concept of the "front" is living dual personalities. Often individuals live dual personalities because of their surrounding environment. This concept is easily exemplified in my temple. The youths that attend temple on the weekend are very pious, humble, and absolutely respectful to elders. However, once they take step outside the temple, a 180 degree turn is made and essentially become "thugs." Sometimes I wonder why there...