Our home is usually considered our place of birth, the place where we grew up, the landmass surrounded by borders where the people speak our native language and have a certain unique set of customs. I used to occasionally refer to my home as ‘my country’ in the past. But I don’t like to use this term anymore, because whenever someone asks me where I come from, I don’t want to imply that the landmass I come from is ‘mine’ or belongs to me in any way. So I prefer to say now ‘I originally come from…’, because this answer kind of leaves it unfinished, like I still have a choice. ‘I originally come from…’ implies a ‘but’ to be a finished sentence. It almost calls for more. Almost like “I originally come from A, but I now live in B, but I would like to move to C, and I would like to explore D, and then I might settle for E.”
I have a problem with this flawed term of belonging to a country. It is a flawed concept. While I can’t deny that I grew up within the borders of a country that determine a certain culture, a certain set of cultural habits, a certain cultural behaviour, and a certain language, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I associate with that social construct completely. There may be other places on this Earth where I feel more at home even though that’s not where I come from. I should be free to choose a place to live which serves my personality best, and which resonates with my energies best. I should be free to create my own life and my own cultural habits. So that I can feel like I am not just a slave accepting a life that has been cut out for me, but I actually have a choice.
The landmass of a country is part of planet Earth, where naturally no borders exist. Just because I come from a certain place, does not mean that I have sovereignty over that landmass. It doesn’t mean that I have the right to deny others to come into that place to be able to enjoy its fruition, just like I do. It does not mean however that anyone is free to just roam into that land, and destroy the culture of an existing community, cause havoc, or behave disrespectfully. You have to come in peace, with a purpose to integrate and with respect in your heart towards the natives. Nobody wants barbarians invading their peace.
Another thing is that, that saying that my home is ‘my country’ is like willingly accepting the power that put the artificial borders in place, and therefore limited my territory geographically. Instead of saying ‘my country’, try saying ‘the landmass or territory that politicians, people in power, or the system at large decided to lock me into, with artificial laws and rules that I did not choose’.
Who is to put migration laws on this planet? Who is to say which section of this planet am I to set my foot to, and others not? Who is to say that I don’t qualify for a certain land, because I don’t have certain papers? This globe is mine just as much as anyone else's. 'My country' is not mine, it is just a mass of land sectioned out of this planet, by some random people. The borders were not made by me, they were made by some random people who came before us, and who were not in any way in the position to section planet Earth artificially. And like some caged animals, keeping us behind bars.
But I don’t live in dreamland, and I know that there needs to be a certain set of rules in place, otherwise humanity would descend into chaos if there were no rules at all. Still I don’t agree with only having the politicians and the elite, who are often criminals and psychopaths, deciding single-handedly about migration laws and countries. Because their agenda is filled with ill intentions. They artificially generate mass migrations to destroy peaceful cultures and places, and other times they artificially exclude nations from migrating into certain places.
I originally come from Europe. I had some bad experiences with discrimination and racism in the past, while living in the UK for about a decade. I have been made to feel on a number of occasions that I don’t belong there and that I should go back to ‘my country’. But I never felt foreign-hatred towards Europeans since I have been living in the USA. Due to my past bad experiences I feel like this issue pushes my buttons and triggers me, and so I wanted to write about it.
After all we are all just Earthlings, we are all equal. We don’t own a landmass, we don’t own anything, Earth does not have borders. But this does not mean that we don’t have to respect each others’ territory. Go wherever you can, but be respectful with locals, be peaceful, be kind, integrate, discover, and enrich yourself!
Written by Nightcreature
Photo source: https://unsplash.com/