Coming from a modern, middle-class community living in the foothills of the Cascades, I have rarely, until now, thought about how I became who I am. I have held many statuses in my life including: fisherman, photographer, student, mountaineer, son, friend, boyfriend, worker. Statuses come and go, but the two achieved statuses that I hope will stay with me for life are photographer and climber. As a climber, the role I should take on is one of safety and competence. People expect me to know how to use the equipment and get them home safely. To maintain my climbing status I have to train rigorously. This leads to some role conflict. My girlfriend is not a mountain climber and expects me to be home on my days off. Climbing is a big part of my life and I have to try to balance the two, but sometimes climbing wins. This creates a lot of conflict between my boyfriend and my climber. Being part of the climbing community feels like a group to me. Using the internet has allowed me to be part of the climbers' social network to spread the word about new places to climb and meet new groups to climb with. Sometimes we get multiple groups together where half the people don't know each other. This can cause some potential tension in the role because you are expected to move from new knowledge to a level of trust. My primary status was as a photographer, but since I got Lyme disease four years ago I've become the guy with Lyme disease. Chronically ill people will never be seen the same way again. Take Michael "Magic" Johnson, the basketball player. His master status was that of a professional basketball player. Now people just see him as the guy who had HIV. Like a p... middle of paper... the rule I broke is shoplifting. I was about eleven years old and a friend and I got caught stealing baseball cards. My mother coming to pick me up was embarrassing enough. I thought the shop owner was kind enough not to call the police, I was no longer allowed in the shop and I was grounded for a long time. Although this is not considered a serious infraction according to the laws of our society, it scared me enough to never steal again. If I hadn't been caught, it might have become a habit in adulthood and I might have reached the status of: thief. Adults are a little harder to get straight than kids. We all have roles to play and act out. For some the highest status achieved may be that of custodian, and for others perhaps that of Academy Award winner. Some roles are big and some are small, but all are equally important to the functioning of a healthy society.