Nov 1998

John Locke said that it’s neither the body nor the soul that constitutes the self. Personal identity, according to him, is founded upon the “same continued consciousness", or memory. My earliest memory was kneeling between my parents in a room full of people in white mourning clothes and catching a glimpse of my aunt sobbing her heart out. Her anguished face and loud, continuous cry kept coming back to my mind as a child. I don't know why I never asked anyone about it until many years later. But I finally found out that it was on my granddad’s funeral, which took place only a few days before my second birthday.