Who Could It Be Now?

When I was seven, I had an intriguing dream. I was running around my house, and all of a sudden, the door bell rang! A volt of electricity ran through me. I went to the door, and as my mother taught me, I asked, “Who’s there?” The strange, but seemingly familiar, voice replied, “I am Sharad Sharma.” Chills ran through my spine as I woke up in the middle of the night!

Got Money?

Ever since then, I have always pondered upon the future, “What kind of person will I become? What will be my occupation? How rich will I be?” I was always concerned with the material aspect of life as a child. I always knew that I could follow my passions to become great in whatever field I chose, but I never realized this fact.


Similarly, I am curious to see if the results of my personality test will shed some light about who I am. And just like Pandora, I acted upon my curiosities, and the result, although not as extreme as Pandora’s, was not pleasing.

I took several personality tests, and it was apparent to me that the results were not accurate since my responses to the questions were extremely dependent on my state of being at the time that I took the test. Before you judge this last sentence, consider the following. After viewing the movie, The Great Debaters, my career test showed that I will be most successful if I pursue a career in the field of law; most likely career, an attorney! This is completely inaccurate as I am convinced that I will never become an attorney, and I have been telling myself this since a federal judge talked to my entire eighth grade class about careers in law in 2004! Also, the results to my personality tests varied based on the character of the film that I was associating myself with at the time that I took the test; I have been deemed to be: an INTJ, an ENTJ, an ENTP, and, most recently, an ESFP. After seeing these results, I asked what anyone would ask, “Why did I take so many tests?”
Which one is me?

However, another question came to mind, “How can I be all of those personalities?”

I am convinced that the test produces inaccurate results because my perception of myself changed as I associated myself with a different character from the movie, but I became curious as to which type of personality my mother will think to most accurately represent me. After all, she is the person who has been there with me since the beginning of my life! Upon hearing the question, she gave me a quick response. She claims that my personality represents my individuality, and this past Saturday, her quote of the day was, “You had your phases the same as all teenagers… everyone changes.” These words rang in my ears like a siren.
Steam, liquid, snow, ice... water is water!

My thoughts were literally bouncing off the walls, and that’s when I realized the connection of this sentence to writing styles. I am, according to the most recent test, an ESFP with sensing and feeling holding the most weight in my score. According to the Approaches to Writing, sensing writers, “may fail to see the unique demands of each assignment and adjust to those demands” (Course Anthology, 150). This suggests that each writing assignment is unique. When Gandhi spoke of a bright future, he was often, if not always, referring to the freedom of India from British rule, and when leading energy companies, such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron, speak of a bright future, they are referring to the freedom of the world from its oil dependency.

Logo of Exxon Corporation

The goal of these writings was to effectively communicate their idea, but the demands of each were different. Gandhi aimed to ignite a spark within Indians to end British rule in India. In comparison, companies like Exxon aim to diversify the world’s energy sources, especially those of its biggest customer, the U.S.A., so that the corporation may continue to be commercially successful in the immediate and long-term future.
A picture of Gandhi


This connection to my reading ignited another connection. I used skills that I have “already learned” (Course Anthology, 138), and I almost always give a “human example” (Course Anthology, 139). These quotes represent the categories of sensing and feeling, respectively, in the Teaching/Learning Styles section. As I stated earlier, sensing and feeling held the most significant weight in my ESFP result. Is this a coincidence? Perhaps it is, but in the words of Detective Finch from V for Vendetta, “There are no coincidences” (Larry and Andy Wachowski).
All the dominoes fall into place

Seeing this similarity, I felt as if I had been struck by lightning! After I logically negated the validity of the test results, I ended up demonstrating the values of sensing and feeling learning styles. This caused me to realize that nothing in life is unconnected.

I think, in this situation, my skepticism clouded my perception of these tests, and this in turn suggests that I am judging. Even though I inhibit certain traits from all personalities, I believe that the validity of the tests is no longer in question. Being that I’m a man of reason, I must’ve had a scientific reason or, as the test suggests, a “human example” to learn from (Course Anthology, 139). I flipped through the required reading and found my ‘human example.’ This individual became Exhibit A.

Who might this be?

Exhibit A’s personality type is an ISFJ. Oh! What a ‘coincidence!’ Professor Bump is an ISFJ! The first time I ever saw Professor Bump was the first day of class when half of the class was early. Professor Bump was casually walking down the hallway, but my perception of this casual stroll was completely different. He had not spoken a single word, and his eyes were definitely fixed upon something in the air in front of him. I was a little nervous; what would be Professor Bump’s first words. He took a look into the classroom and was surprised to see that the classroom was still being occupied. I immediately thought that my English professor was going to be extremely strict. There will be no leniency, no excuses.
It's a book!

After all, I was in college now; I can’t rely on anybody for anything. Saumaya Tayi agrees that ISTJ’s are “notoriously stubborn,” and their motto is, “If you want it done right, do it yourself” (Course Anthology, 141). I have not known Professor Bump for long, but I know that he believes in that motto. This is one of the few mottos that can appropriately be used as a classroom motto because “if one wants to learn what in a classroom environment, one must actively choose to want to learn every single day and, then, act upon those wants.” This learning attitude will always enhance the atmosphere of the classroom, and, scientifically, diamonds are made only when Carbon molecules are placed in the right atmosphere under a certain pressure range. I imagine there will be more to elaborate about the professor as our interactions increase, but currently, I don’t know him well enough to judge his stubbornness so I’ll just leave that as a mere ‘coincidence’ (no pun intended).

While we’re on the subject of coincidences, a quote comes to mind; “hammer your thoughts into unity” (Frank Tuohy, Yeats, 1976, p.51). In my view, the quote represents the struggle it will take to find out who you are. As the wording suggests, the thoughts will not come together by themselves; they must be hammered into unity.

There are many aspects to my personality as I did go through my “phases same as every teenager” (Savita Sharma). There is an aspect of me in every single one of my phases; to unify all of these aspects of my individuality into one “phase” is a process not an action. That’s why thoughts must be hammered into unity; the process of hammering a nail is similar to the process of finding the answer to the question that everybody asks themselves at one point in time, who am I?

Knock Knock

Now, as the results of the personality tests suggest, I definitely don’t know who I am, but I know that I am an ESFP among other personality types. Maybe I’m developing qualities of many different personalities, or maybe I’m lost within myself. I like to think that maybe the door bell will ring again, but I pause to think, “Who could it be now?”

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