Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born?I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash'd babe, and am not contain'd between my hat and boots

It is no secret that our bodies are composed of millions of invisible atoms, all of which have been in existence since the creation of the universe. Atoms cannot be created nor can they be destroyed, therefore, they are recycled. Our bodies are composed of the same molecules that once made up hundreds and thousands of people and things before us. Our deaths are not truly deaths, just a breaking of matter. We are infinite, immortal beings who continue to live on in different forms of the universe.

And with this, we can conclude that our identities, our sense of personhood, are not contained to a certain mold, but instead have the ability to shift and change throughout our lifetime and beyond. Our bodies, as well as our mental state, continuously grow with the earth around us. In essence, we are flexible and malleable creatures.

This particular excerpt may serve as a commentary on society's views of "identity." We as a species tend to put each other in boxes, such as the "intellectuals" or the "free spirits." But this is an inaccurate representation of our potential. We can be both an intellectual and a free spirit. We can be a free spirit in one life and an intellectual in the next. We are not defined by our most prevalent quality, but by all of our qualities (and our potential qualities) as a whole.

With this theory that we are a collection of recycled atoms, one can conclude that we can be more than just a person. It sounds strange, the thought of the molecules that your heart is composed of could once have been a part of a star, but it's a very real possibility. We have a relationship to our environment and the objects within it that is far more complex than what meets the eye. They are a part of us, as we are a part of them. It takes this understanding to truly believe that we live on far after our body dies.