"Listen: you are not yourself..."
What an insane phrase to begin to explain. Am I someone else entirely? What exactly is Solnit getting at with this piece? I think this idea is more fully explored during "Flight" in Chapter Four on page 68.
We are essentially made from two people. In Solnit's words: "two people coming together, by accident whether wisely or not, by the attractions of similarity and difference, who survive each others fears and limits..." and she goes one to explain that by some random force we are created.
From who these others are created - it's all a continuous string of the way they we brought up in the world, who they met, experiences they had. Those people were made up by two pairs of other people and so on and so fourth. We act certain ways and do certain things based upon our past. People around us shape us every day. Some of those people we will never see again, though their impact might have been life changing. And our kids may never know those people though the lessons will be passed on. I think Solnit is pointing out a crazy concept, and it's definitely a larger one to consider.
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