"Does it matter what country you came from or what language you speak?
Home is something we can all understand.
A place where you were born, or where you came to settle,
A place in your heart for the home you left behind." - Paul Kwan
Home is a concept I find myself struggling with on a regular basis - especially having moved to New Orleans, a place where the population is more or less split between natives and transplants. I struggle with the idea of being 'from' somewhere - at what point can you say that you are 'from' somewhere? At what point does a place become home?
I think this is why Paul Kwan's explanation of home really resonates with me. As a person with Chinese ancestry, raised in Viet Nam, and consequently apart of the Vietnamese diaspora, I think Paul Kwan has a very unique aspect on the concept of home.
I like the idea of having a multi-faceted definition of home. I like the flexibility of having multiple homes. It allows me not to feel constrained to only calling the place I was born, or the place where my parents currently reside as home. I like the idea of being able to make a place your home and I think that is ultimately what many of the Vietnamese in America have done. It's been said that America - specifically, Village de l'Est - is the new quê hương (native land, homeland) for many of the Vietnamese living in New Orleans East.
This spirit is really inspiring to a young person like me, who has yet to really settle down anywhere, but nonetheless, I feel strongly about wanting to invest much of my life to this community. I think that community is something much like farming. It is more than a place to root yourself and exist with others, but it is something that must exist past today and past our generation. We have to invest in the future and survival of the community, much like plants of today will pass to become nutrients for seedlings of tomorrow.
Blah, sometimes I really hate writing blog posts, but I think it's becoming necessary to reflect on life experiences, regardless of pretentiousness and all that.
