Belonging
08th March 2014
Where do we belong? Is it where we were born, a long time home, or where fate eventually beached us on some distant shore?
It seems clear, to this Surrey born man, that some people find this question easy to answer. Their 'belonging' and ultimately their identity, is derived from 'place'. They have been formed and crafted by their location, taken on roles and activities (in the most natural way) that are specific to where they come from.
Some sociologists define culture in the terms of shared values and meaning, where we unquestionably know, feel, what is and recognize all that surrounds us. As a Surrey man this seems not obvious. The many regions of this country have identity and a sense of belonging, but I knoiw of no person who would proudly state they were from Surrey. Certainly not like a Cornish, Eastender, Norfolk, Yorkshire man (etc).
As I immerse myself into these northern lands this observation increasingly becomes more clear. I have been too often adrift and in need of a place that I can call my home...I come from...I belong. As I continue this adventure I wonder if I have eventually found my 'belonging'.
"My ways are circumscribed, confined as a limpet
To one small radius of rock; yet
I eat the equator, breathe the sky, and carry
The great white sun in the dirt of my finger nails"
It seems clear, to this Surrey born man, that some people find this question easy to answer. Their 'belonging' and ultimately their identity, is derived from 'place'. They have been formed and crafted by their location, taken on roles and activities (in the most natural way) that are specific to where they come from.
Some sociologists define culture in the terms of shared values and meaning, where we unquestionably know, feel, what is and recognize all that surrounds us. As a Surrey man this seems not obvious. The many regions of this country have identity and a sense of belonging, but I knoiw of no person who would proudly state they were from Surrey. Certainly not like a Cornish, Eastender, Norfolk, Yorkshire man (etc).
As I immerse myself into these northern lands this observation increasingly becomes more clear. I have been too often adrift and in need of a place that I can call my home...I come from...I belong. As I continue this adventure I wonder if I have eventually found my 'belonging'.
"My ways are circumscribed, confined as a limpet
To one small radius of rock; yet
I eat the equator, breathe the sky, and carry
The great white sun in the dirt of my finger nails"