Flamingos are not born pink. Their color comes from what they consume and the environments they inhabit.
Field Notes
Some of what makes us recognizable was never ours to begin with. We inherit language, habits, values, fears, ambitions, and ways of seeing long before we choose any of them. Over time these borrowed influences can feel so natural that we mistake them for identity itself. Yet just as flamingos would look different in another ecosystem, many parts of who we are are shaped by what surrounds us. The question is not whether we have been influenced. The question is whether we have examined which colors we want to keep.