I 'd expand on his conflict , adding that Sawyer isn 't just protecting a cushy life with Dharma , but he 's also protecting the only simple identity that any of them could reasonably expect to have - they have carved out new identities for 3 years now , and they all have a lot invested in protecting those identities for many reasons - they have no papers , no birth certificates , no other job histories , and their names are already attached to little kid versions of themselves from 1977 .