Sam, I am.

I am a 33-year old, lower-middle-class white male.

I am a teacher of science.

I am also a student.

I am a father of two.

I am a friend to my friends.

I am a colleague.

I am creative, intelligent, stubborn, and patient.

I am sometimes thoughtless.

I am often lazy.

I am a reader.

I am a son and a brother and an uncle and a father and a cousin and a husband and a grandson.

I am a carbon-based life-form, composed of billions of individual cells working together in a miraculous mechanism that keeps my heart beating, my blood flowing, my lungs inflating, and my neurons firing.

I am tired.

I am lousy at balancing my checkbook.

I am ignorant of the rules of hockey.

I am wondering why I am here.

I am pretty sure there’s a reason.

I am in love with my wife.

I am a Jew.

I am proud of my friends.

I am fascinated by watching people learn.

I am of average height, average weight, average build, average income, average intelligence, and average ability.

I am not average.

I am unique.

I am.