Hats; Who Needs 'em?

I know a person, who wears a hat nearly every time I see them. I see a dependency too. Like if they were to take their hat off, they would lose part of their soul. Why? What part of them truly believes that hats are as much a part of them as their body and soul? I think they find themselves feeling unrecognizable because something is missing.  Something that is deeper than an article of clothing...

A long time ago, an old man was walking back to his village after a long day working in his rice field. As he nears the village, he crosses paths with a younger man with expensive clothes , luxurious jewelry, and a very fine hat. "Hello," says the old man to the younger one, "what brings you hear? The nearest city is at least 10 miles away." The young man cooly replies with, "I am the 7th son of a sultan from a village up north." "I see," says the old man, "so are you here for business?" "Not at all," said the young man, "I'm on a journey, I want to find who I really am, and what my purpose is here." The old man ponders the younger mans response, and invites the young boy to dinner at his house. The young boy accepts, and after a home cooked meal from the old mans wife, the two men sit comfortably in the living room and begin conversing. The young man begins by explaining that even though he has all the riches he could ever dream of, he hates living with his family, and has been longing to leave for years. The old man then asks about the emblem on the young mans hat. "The emblem on my hat is my family crest." The old man then replies with, "If you dislike your family so much, why do you choose to wear your family crest around?" The young man says, "Well, I've been the son of a sultan my entire life. Without that, I don't know what I would be." "And would removing that scare you?" asked the old man. "Of course, if I give up my entire identity, I'll be left with nothing. At least with this, people will recognize me as someone important." "You said you're on a journey to find who you are and why you're here, correct?" asked the old man. "Yes," replies the younger. "Well then, I'm sorry to tell you that you will never find what you seek." says the older man. "Excuse me? Why would you say that?" "Because you'll never find who you really are if you don't let go of who you THINK you are. These two things are not the same. One leads to a life of self fulfillment, while the other leaves you powerless to others as you endlessly search for their approval. So in order to find yourself, you have to renounce your titles, strip away everything you ever "thought" you were, and look at whats left. Once you've removed all of that, only then can you ask the question,

 'Who am I?'"

Who am I...?

Who AM I...?

As you sit alone, in the silence that follows this question, you will, for the first time, feel truly whole. This is the time you can finally move forward with full confidence and knowing of your true identity. Its finally time you realize, that no one else can tell you who you are. Because only you have the answer to that question. Haha, who am I then, you ask? I'll tell you in time, I promise. But before I do, I must ask you to remove your hat...