This is a difficult thing for a great many, and this difficulty should not be scorned. One should love the place of their birth, it is only natural. But we do not live in the most natural world out there, not anymore. The truth is that the world has become more mishapen, and perfidious than before so that it is difficult to appreciate the place of your birth.
I absolutely respect leaving, I’m so sorry you’ve been put in that position. I hope your next home is more welcoming. It’s so meaningful to me to be able to talk about these things with people from different parts of the world, like yourself. It reminds me that people all around the globe feel all the same things and maybe exactly where we are on that globe shouldn’t matter so much as how we treat the people we’re on it with.
Thank you for writing this. It's very powerful, and beautifully composed. This issue is something I struggle with a lot. I'm in the United States and, boy, is that somethin' nowadays. My family and I often talk about the question of leaving out of fear that it will become unbearably unsafe, even going so far as to say 'We really should leave'... but we never make any plans and I suspect we never will. I sometimes think about the Jews in 1930s Germany who saw everything that was going on but didn't leave while they could, and it's easy to think they were foolish and you'd be different, but then there's this love of home, this faith that the country of your birth wouldn't really try and destroy you, that makes you stick with it even as things get darker. I appreciate how you write about the love of adoptive countries as well, for those who do leave for one reason or another, but as you say it really is like loving a parent. Sometimes parents treat us terribly but, on some level, we can hold on to loving them anyway. Maybe we should or shouldn't, I don't know, and maybe a lot of people don't, but I do. It does make me want to try harder and fix things, and maybe that's what the world needs more of right now. It's a complicated issue. You write about it well.
I absolutely respect leaving, I’m so sorry you’ve been put in that position. I hope your next home is more welcoming. It’s so meaningful to me to be able to talk about these things with people from different parts of the world, like yourself. It reminds me that people all around the globe feel all the same things and maybe exactly where we are on that globe shouldn’t matter so much as how we treat the people we’re on it with.
Thank you for writing this. It's very powerful, and beautifully composed. This issue is something I struggle with a lot. I'm in the United States and, boy, is that somethin' nowadays. My family and I often talk about the question of leaving out of fear that it will become unbearably unsafe, even going so far as to say 'We really should leave'... but we never make any plans and I suspect we never will. I sometimes think about the Jews in 1930s Germany who saw everything that was going on but didn't leave while they could, and it's easy to think they were foolish and you'd be different, but then there's this love of home, this faith that the country of your birth wouldn't really try and destroy you, that makes you stick with it even as things get darker. I appreciate how you write about the love of adoptive countries as well, for those who do leave for one reason or another, but as you say it really is like loving a parent. Sometimes parents treat us terribly but, on some level, we can hold on to loving them anyway. Maybe we should or shouldn't, I don't know, and maybe a lot of people don't, but I do. It does make me want to try harder and fix things, and maybe that's what the world needs more of right now. It's a complicated issue. You write about it well.
Wonderful, inspiring writing.
Love builds up a country. Hate destroys it.
Thank you this insightful article.