Where am I from?
What is where? Is it the place that is important or the atmosphere surrounding the place, or perhaps the events that happened there? “Where” is a question that can have a lot of different implications. I’m sure if someone were interested enough they could find the exact grid coordinates of the locations of all the notable events in their life. However, I feel that answering the question in that manner detracts from the original purpose.
If someone were to ask me, “Where did you grow up?” I suppose I would have a difficult time answering. The concise answer, “Walnut Grove, GA” hardly gives any insight into my personality, and most assuredly would not answer any other questions aside from the one just stated. The “Where” is less of a place and more of a memory every day.
I am from the place where fires burn in barrels, doors always stay locked, and people avoid making eye contact with one another. A place where the sun shines, but no one seems to take notice unless it furthers their own goals. A place where people used to have pets, but now they just run free as strays to cause trouble for everyone. A place where I learned self defense, but the lessons were free. This place where I came from had the word “struggle” on everyone’s daily agenda.
Yet I also came from a place of freedom for someone my age. I could come and go as I pleased so long as someone knew where I’d be. I made my own choices and fully accepted the reactions from my action whether positive or negative. I am from a place that instills great strength upon someone on both the outside and the inside, but that strength also comes with its weaknesses. The place I was from has also branded me with many inerasable scars.
I am from a place that taught me not to hold on to people and places. In that place the only thing that mattered was the present, and the choices you make right then.
Where I am from has been the single biggest event to shape my character in my life. I believe that it has changed the way I view the world permanently. That place has instilled in me quite a few traits that still help dictate how I see the world. An internal fortitude, mixed with a gritty realism, and a suspicion that borders on paranoia are traits that exist in my day to day life, and they may never go away.
Since then, I have been in much nicer places, with much better people, but when I think of “Where” I’m from, that is the place that exists to me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Are you already a writer by habit and practice? Seems that way from reading this post. You seem to also know what readers read for, as well as an understanding of how you come across in terms of voice and style.
ReplyDeleteThis reader's favorite paragraph:
"I am from the place where fires burn in barrels, doors always stay locked, and people avoid making eye contact with one another. A place where the sun shines, but no one seems to take notice unless it furthers their own goals. A place where people used to have pets, but now they just run free as strays to cause trouble for everyone. A place where I learned self defense, but the lessons were free. This place where I came from had the word “struggle” on everyone’s daily agenda."