Each day do we really think about the way we identify ourselves? Man, woman, mom, dad, straight, gay, black, white, rich or poor? Do we actually realize how much our identities affect our day to day lives?

I attended the Student Identity Conference at Shippensburg University on Saturday, April 7 in Grove Hall. There were many topics discussed at the event, but a big topic was intersectionality, how all of our identities affect each other.

Some identities we're just born with, some we come to embrace or learn about over time. But overall, our identities affect what life we will live, and how people perceive us. Now am I not saying that if you are poor you will always be, that is not the case at all. What I am saying is that our different identities affect multiple others, for example, your religion might affect your family's or your own opinion on gay marriage, or your race might affect how people view your intelligence or education.

Everything is connected, and I think the students who talked about it really opened my eyes about it. Through a small group discussion, I learned more and related, and did not relate, to four other people in just the matter of an hour. I think we are afraid to admit that we do not try to see what it is like for someone with another identity, and for most of us, we never will. I am a woman and I will never know what it is like to be a man.

Some of us do not even acknowledge that we will not see the other side of certain identities, and that is something I think we can benefit from. This is a major point that the speaker of our intersectionality discussion, Henry Le made. We often are so stuck in living our lives that we do not admit that we do have it better than some identities and that we do not recognize that we do not know as much about them as we could.

I feel like we should embrace ourselves and our identities but we should try to immerse ourselves in other identities as well. Yes, we will always have our own biases, it is just how we were raised, or what we think, but there is always room for improvement and understanding.

We should stop being afraid to ask each other questions, such as "What is that like for you?" Instead of being so invested in how our own lives, why not take a second and ask someone else a question about theirs?

Overall, I learned that we cannot just sit here and ignore the fact there are still changes to be made. We need to be more considerate, yet still embrace ourselves and identities, because we only get so much time here, why waste it?