Today I told the soldier I was not up to anything four or five times before he realized I was telling him I was up to something. I was up to something I could not, should not, would not be to behind his back so he had to be informed.

“I am doing this,” I said. “I am trying to show my humanity. I am trying to show that I am a person and I look like this and I think like this and I feel like this and I am not some jumble of information you get from outside sources that are silly. I mean, I have a voice. I can say who I am and how I feel and I will go on the record with exactly that. You must see this. All I have is my humanity. Do you understand? This is what I have to sell, it is my heart.”

He didn’t say anything so I assumed he did not understand.

“Look, some people point at things and that is who they are. For example one person might say I am this degree I have. Or I am this, whatever thing it is they put out there to represent themselves. Well I don’t have a thing. I am a human being and that’s all. What I have is my humanity, which is my heart and my thoughts and my feelings. These things are my stock in trade. This is what I have so this is what I will offer. (To the soldier’s son)

How do you represent yourself? What is your stock in trade? Can you see this in your chart?