The Platypus: Who Are you?

 

Time for more about the creature for which this blog is named:  the duckbill platypus.  The platypus is one of only a handful of egg laying mammals, meaning that it gives milk but also lays eggs…what a rebel!  It also has other reptilian characteristics, like the production of venom;  the males have a venomous spur on their hind legs that they use to defend themselves.   This creature is so unusual that when it was first brought to Europe by trappers it was considered a fraud.  Scientists examining the platypus specimens checked them for suture marks, sure that it was a man-made compilation of random animal parts…parts that didn’t seem like they should go together in the same creature.  As I discussed earlier  http://lifeasaplatypus.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/my-favorite-animal/   it has thick fur and a wide tail like a beaver, a bill and webbed feet like a duck, but those webbed feet also have claws like an otter.   This animal proves to me that God has a sense of humor (my husband thinks that farts are God’s way of showing a sense of humor).  You look at the sum of all these parts and don’t know quite what to make of it.  Is it a beaver, a duck, or an otter? A mammal or a reptile?  And hey, just for fun, let’s throw in some venom!  Can’t you just imagine those scientists looking down at the platypus and asking “Who ARE you?”

I first began to relate to the platypus as a teenager.  I felt like people were looking at me quizzically, asking, “Who are you?”  That still happens sometimes, like when I’m intrigued by things that many people find uninteresting  (I made a random post on the web about the use of language as a societal control tactic in the book 1984.  I was amazed that no one wanted to engage me in that sociological dialog!).   A lot of people don’t get me.  I’m usually okay with that, but sometimes I still feel like that teenage mismatched misfit.   Are you serious or joking?  Depends on the moment.  Cool or not cool?  Somewhere in the middle.  Urban or rural?  A little of both.  I never fit into one of those “categories” that they like to put you in during High School.  And I was never quite one of the girls, but of course not one of the guys.  

I am still a mishmash of characterstics.  I love to think deep, philosphical thoughts, but I also have a goofy sense of humor.  I like opera AND Monty Python.   I love to drive my dad’s tractor in the country and get dressed up to to a French Impressionism exhibit at the museum.  As an adult I LOVE my randomness, and am proud of the fact that I have such a wide variety of interests.   I am different.  I am unique.  I am special.  (and you are, too!)

Lately I find I am asking myself some of the same questions again.  Who am I?  Am I who I want to be?  Am I who I need to be?  Do others see me as I want them to see me?  I have so many different roles now, and as a result have been struggling with some issues of identity (hence the modified title of this blog).  But that part of this discussion is best saved for another post…