Like spotting your 1st grade teacher at the market...

I remember when we were little, incidental sightings of your teacher at the market or in the hospital were such a strange and stomach-churning surprise: "How would my teacher also need to shop for food?" "What is SHE doing HERE?"

For some reason, I've always been fascinated with the idea that each of us has many different faces that we present to different people in different contexts at different times. (BTW, the Australian movie Lantana speaks to this idea really well... for those with Netflix...) With each different role, we may show more or less vulnerability. For example, a judge may seem so powerful and authoritative in one situation, and yet so weak and troubled at home. A professor may seem so brilliant and convincing in the classroom, but so powerless in another setting. So who exactly are we when the different identities tell such different stories of the same self?

Well, my present life definitely forces me to think about this issue all the time. At work and at the dorm, I face people with such distinct and different roles in another situation. For example, I just learned that a dorm mate, a Sri Lankan monk, with whom I actually share a bathroom with, is an abbot and a widely revered spiritual leader in the Buddhist community. Sri Lankans in particular would kiss the ground upon seeing the reverend as a sign of utmost respect. They actually bring foods to honor him. (Well, as much as I want to find a meditation mentor, sharing a bathroom with your teacher is a bit too odd!) Another Japanese priest, also a dorm mate, has a similar leadership role in his temple, though at home he's a total recluse. At school, an older classmate, with whom I sit together in class and have lunch, is actually a well-known top surgeon and researcher and a main leader of the UCSF Cancer Center. People would usually wait months to get an appointment with this guy, who's supposedly got some huge budget on his lap! Even my mentor was shocked to learn that "John wears jeans??!!" And yet, I see his other side as a peer student with reflection papers to turn in and quizzes to take, a side that his colleagues and medical colleagues and students dare not even imagine!

I know there are many people that I interact with that I only focus on one side of them: an immigration officer, a homeless person, a cashier, a renown scholar, .... Sometimes I think it's nice to be reminded that we all have so many sides, some more prominent than others, and that spotting your teacher at the market should not after all be any kind of a surprise!