It certainly cannot be denied that where you grew up and how you grew intrinsically affects your life, your behavior, your psychology, your basis for desires, and your mindset throughout your existence. It is a simple fact, people are defined by where they live.  
 
With the dawning of the information age, all peoples began to be more experienced in the stuff from afar. First with magazines, radio, movie newsreels, TV, and finally (and particularly) the internet, human interaction has changed vastly. The minds of most have been greatly expanded.
 
This being said, this does not change the fact of where you were born, where you grew up, how you grew up, and what ethnic, societal, and cultural influences you were exposed to have come to define the essence of your being.
 
I’m sure it is true, from time immemorial, that some people have attempted to change, hide from, lie about, rise above, and transcend the basis of their essential formation. Though this may be the case, it is nonetheless at the crux of who a person is, and it even explicitly aids in defining what they can ultimately become. …Though some may deny this fact.
 
All you personally have to do to prove the truth of this reality is to truly look at who and what you truly are, your personality, the things you have done, the things that have been done to you, what you desire, what you are proud of, and what you are ashamed of. With this penetrating and truthful look into who and what you truly are you will instantly see that you are a product of where you are from.
 
Most people never take the time to ponder this simple truth. They either just accept who and what they are, where they came from, what they do, and have done, and live their way through their lifecycle for better or for worse. Others, spend their whole existence running from the formations that made them who they are.  Where do you find yourself in this conundrum?
 
The thing is, as we cannot not be defined by our formation(s)… As we cannot not be who we were created to be… At best, for those who us who wish to rise about any negative definitions of our formations, all we can do is to strive to become that something more and do this process with an intended purpose.
 
The problem here arises in the fact that people use all levels of denial attempting to hide from the truth of their creation and development and what it did to the person they have (at least) initially become. But, denying who and how you were formed to be never results in your become that something else/that something more. For without your formative elements, no matter how harsh, negative, or unwanted they may have been, without them you would not have framed you into being that something else you wish to develop.
 
The things is, people do a lot of stuff, particularly in their younger years, based upon who they were created to be. Many of these things, as time goes on, are truly regretted. But, the fact of life is, you cannot erase what you have done; be that something very good or something very bad. And, what you have done is also part and parcel of what you can become. You did it. End of story.
 
For this reason, a lot of people, spend a lot of their life, attempting to run away from the who they truly are. But, if it wasn’t you who did it, who was it?  Yes, you can change. Yes, you can evolve. Yes, you can become that better individual. Hopefully… But, due to all of those early formative factors, you did what you did. Now, what are you going to do with that fact? At best, all you can do is try to build a better you while never lying to yourself about what caused you and created you to do anything.
 
The truth is, you can never hide from your foundations. You can certainly try to be more than them. But, no matter how far or how hard you run away from them, that/they will always be at least one of the primary defining factors of who you truly are. Remember that.