Just read and an article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/02/AR2011030205716.html, it is about what happens to families of children that live through an evacuation and or regime change outside their home country. I found the article interesting as nothing was ever said to my parents after I had experienced both an evacuation at the end of my ninth grade year in school and then a bloody coup de ta a month before I was to graduate from high school. Both experiences effected me at the time and continue to pop up in my life even today.
There is trauma when ripped from your everyday life and then moved out of your home and into a culture that seems so foreign even if it is your supposed native culture.
For years I have struggled with how I fit in to a world that I do not feel comfortable in. I go to my children s high school and feel comfortable in the midst of all the diversity. I remember walking into China town in New York city and smelling the dried fish and other wonderful smells of my childhood and feeling like I was home.
What I am starting to realize as I get older is that we all have life experiences that push us to the outside of feeling culturally connected. We all walk in some kind of exile wondering how will I ever fit into this world in which I live. This very thought has opened a new way to read the scriptures, the Hebrews spent much of their time in exile and they were always looking for a way to fit in. Jesus was always going against the cultural norms and finding himself on the outside. The same with the prophets and other faithful disciples throughout the years. What is revealing is that the journey we call life is that call to let go of trying to fit in culturally and work to accepting myself just as I am. My life is my life, it made me who I am today and am grateful for all those that have crossed my path. Grateful for my family of origin that started me on my journey. I am grateful for my wife that has loved me despite the crap that I bring into the relationship. Am grateful for my children that have loved me unconditionally and made be feel so much more important than I really am. They have walked with me and pushed me to become the person I am today. So Thanks family for your love, your patience and our laughter as we have journeyed through life. I look forward to the adventures that lie ahead.