“Do you know who I am?” he asked puffing up his chest.
“No! Don’t you?”
“I am the one who owns that BMW!”
“So why don’t you ask the car?”
“Ask what?”
“Who you are!”
“Why should I ask my car?”
“Because you asked me who you were, and since you don’t know, wouldn’t it be better to ask one of your possessions who you are? Hey car, do you know who this man is?”
“He should know, he owns me!”
“You own this car?”
“Yes I do!”
“And before this car, what did you own?”
“A smaller car!”
“And before that, I guess you had a scooter?”
“Yes, and before that a cycle!”
“And what did you have before the cycle?”
“Nothing!”
“Ah!”
“What do you mean by ah?”
“That’s the reason you don’t know who you are, because you are still in the ‘nothing’ stage! You haven’t moved from cycle, or scooter or small car to this fancy BMW, but you are sitting pretty in the ‘nothing’ stage, and asking people ‘who you are!”
“What I meant is that do you know how big I am?”
“That’s a question people ask when they themselves aren’t sure about how big they are!”
“You mean I don’t know?”
“No, sadly you don’t!”
“But I own that car, that means I must be somebody big!”
“Of course you are! But you still don’t think you are my friend, and most people in the world are like you. They do well. Make money, even make a name for themselves, but they remain in the ‘nothing’ or ‘I am a nobody’ stage! Do you know something?”
“Yes, tell me!”
“If you really knew who you were, you may not even need the car, to tell people who you are. Once you know who you are, the world will look at you, with or without a limousine, with or without a fancy house and they’ll know who you are, but first, my friend….”
“I need to know who I am? But how do I do that?”
“By learning to respect who others are and when you do so, others will automatically acknowledge you in return, and you won’t have to ask but will be told, ‘We know who you are!’ And by the way the vehicle behind your BMW is mine!”
“The Mercedes?”
“No, the cycle!”
He laughed and stretched out his hand. It was warm and genuine and I replied, “Now I know who you are!”
“You know something,” he said with a grin as we walked to my cycle, “I’m beginning to know who I am too!”
“Thank God!” sighed the BMW to my cycle, “I got fed up, him asking everybody, who he was..!”

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