A person is shaped to its natural "self" through decisions whether they are the right or wrong. Sometimes by the person's past experiences , what he or she been through either hard or good times. But more importantly a person is shaped to whom they are today from the teachings they have grew up on. From learning what is wrong or right, and nobody is a better teacher than our parents. My primary influences in my life are my parents, they have been teaching me since I can remember. Starting from when I was a toddler helping me walk on my own two feet. Teaching me my native language punjabi, which I must say is awfully hard to learn if it isn't your first language. My parents as well as other parents I'm supposing taught me right from wrong. Teaching me what is moral and immoral , how to treat other kids, how to be respectful to relatives and other elders. In my culture giving respect is a number one thing, since I was little say about four years old my mother taught me to always touch an elders person's feet to show respect. Since back then till this day I have always obeyed that rule, no matter if I liked the adult or not. My parents told me this and it always just been stuck with me "to make a reputation it takes many years but to mess it up takes just a second". Therefore I always had to maintain a good self image as a sikh living in United states. My secondary influence in my life that aided to shape my "self" is school. Being from a village from Punjab, India and adjusting to school in the states was very tough but also exciting. It was all so new to me, going to school on cheese buses rather than walking on a dirt road. Walking into perfectly distrubuted air coditioned classrooms rather than hot over-crowded classrooms back in Punjab. First time where the teacher wouldn't hit you for saying the wrong answer or even just talking to a neighboring classmate. Getting schooled in America gives the younger generation the freedom to make decisions for themselves, even if the adults know they might