Where are you from?

Good evening ladies and gentleman.

Where are you from? From which country do you originate?

Now to some extent it could be argued that the person asking this question to make small talk, to avoid the debilitating awkward silences where nobody knows what to say or what to do, meaning people become even more paranoid and lack the knowledge how to meet wonderful and interesting who have the ability to lighten up our lives, make us want to feel and be better. However, we are getting off topic.

Where are you from? America, Wales, France, England, Germany, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Australia, China. Nine countries of a possible 196, all of which come with an almost predetermined set of ideals and stereotypes that we well be brought up to believe by our parents and family, as they were by them, etc. etc. Maybe you were born in one of these countries, maybe you were born in a different country and moved there. The point is….

People generally consider that where they are born or where there parents are from, this is where they originate, it is part of their background. This is fair enough, we should respect our history and where we are from, but should it define us like it does? Should other people, possibly people we don’t even know be able to make conclusions and jumps to who we are as a person, purely by what nationality we are?

Take a modern example. Donald. J. Trump, the current republican presidential candidate in America. Some in America hate him, some around the world hate him. Some in America love him, others around the world love him. Donald Trump is totally irrelevant in this instance, as much as he may not like it. The point is if someone was born in America, or is living in America, people they meet will instantly believe they are on one side of the fence or the other, you must have an opinion, because that’s good, or that’s bad. We are always supposed to be one side of the fence or the other, as do a lot of Donald Trump’s beliefs on immigration i suppose.

Its all based on assumption. You are a particular nationality, so you must spend a lot of time looking at the news, doing this and that and generally doing this that would lead me to believe you are (insert nationality here.)

Why do we do this? To continue with the America example, there are over 323 million people in America. Yet we all assume they are fixated on one set of ideals, these “nationalist ideals.” This leads us to not like vast groups of people purely because they are from the “wrong” country, because they were bought up in a way, or to supposed nationalist “ideals” that someone else disagrees with, therefore they don’t like vast groups of people they haven’t even met.

What the hell are we doing? Limiting ourselves as people and living our lives based on something we assume numerous millions of people believe and live to?

How do you feel about nationality? Should it define us? or is it more complicated than that?

Interesting idea right?

Until next time DR

Random motivation picture.

assumption

Where are you from