You are not your khakis

It was my junior year of high school. I was the public relations officer on student council. She was a cute freshman cheerleader, also on student council. She had volunteered to stay after school to help me with some publicity. Though we had only recently met, we seemed to really be hitting it off. She needed a ride home, and so I offered to take her. \nWhat proceeded became a major life lesson. Up until that time, she was warm and friendly. Then she saw my car -- my beautiful 1982 Honda Accord hatchback with 180,000 miles on it. Its gold paint helped the rust blend in. Now don't get me wrong, I am grateful that my parents had even gotten me a car. But she did not see it as such a blessing. Her whole demeanor toward me changed. I was no longer such a cool upperclassman. Inside I burned from the sting of being judged by the kind of car I drove. \nRecently at dinner, a friend quoted a line from a movie to me, "You are not your khakis." This struck a chord with me, and I began to digest this bit of wisdom. You are not your khakis. It is true. The things we own, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive -- these are all just things. They are not who we are. \nThey might make us look more stylish or hip, but they do not make us better people. You are not your khakis. But that is not all you are not. \nYou are not the amount of your bank account. You are not the size of your breasts or the size of your muscles. Some people equate possessions or things like good looks with their self-worth. Is that truth? We could take a chimpanzee, tailor an Armani suit for him and drive him around in a limo. Heck, we could even give him an honorary doctorate. Would that make him any less of a chimp? Your image does not equate to who you are.\nSome people spend their entire lives chasing expensive cars and big houses, as if that was the end goal of life. But we brought nothing into the world with us and we can take nothing out. You never see a U-Haul trailing a hearse. I am not bashing material things; I am questioning materialism and the emphasis we place on possessions. That is not the end purpose of life, and those that seek to make it such will find the fulfillment for their lives they pursue out of reach. \nKing Solomon discovered the futility of a life spent on material gain. He wrote, "I built houses for myself…I amassed silver and gold…I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure…Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained…"\nKing Solomon did not realize until the end of his life that possessions did not give his life meaning. We can seek an answer sooner. You are not your khakis. What, then, are you?