Primary/Secondary

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be sent to a fun lunch speaker series at the Roundup Centre. The speaker's name was Keith Ferazzi and he spoke about passion. As, of course, most of them do. The different thing that he really focused on was building relationships.

The thought that I came across when I was there that I wanted to share really has nothing to do with the presentation.

I was thinking about the creation of identity through different sources. I was considering the difference between someone like myself and a Francophone Jew in Quebec as an example. Compare different sources: American (English) pop culture, local Jewish communities, books, going to synagogue, family (the list could go on forever). What about that though? What might make these primary or secondary? There would be a difference in the strength, level of accessibility and degree of availability (along other variables, of course) with different sources. Like, for instance, I get a lot more of my Jewish identity from the American pop culture whereas a French Jew in Montreal would get his or hers more from the local Jewish community. This would account for a lot of variety, I'd guess. Am I stating the obvious? I suppose this is true of any ethnic or religious group but perhaps it is magnified because Jews are an ethnic AND religious group.

I'm sorry if I'm stating an obvious truth, it's just what I was thinking about.

-L.