There is something that has been bothering me for quite some time now and I wanted to vent out here about it.
“Where are you from?”
This question is one of the most commonest questions people end up asking when they meet for the first time. I have been so sick of hearing that my whole life and I always wondered why I thought that way.
It took a while for me to realise why and it was because I was too young to understand it. When I would reveal that I was born in Sweden, people would always have that look on their faces…that judgmental, confusing look. Then, they would ask more questions regarding my looks.
“Why aren’t you blonde?” “Are you really Swedish?” “Where are you really from?” “Why do you have dark hair?” “You look too exotic to be Swedish”
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind when people ask me about my origins but there are nicer way of asking than the “Why aren’t you blonde?” question. “What is your heritage?” is a perfect example and I bless the people who have asked me that in the past instead of the other questions above.
My parents are from Iran, hence the reason why I don’t have any scandinavian features. Although, I still consider myself as Swedish because I was born there, I grew up there with the culture and the people.
But that’s not why I am writing this, it’s something else that is bothering me.
All my life I have been questioning where I actually belong at and where I would call “home”. I’ve always felt so lost and confused when I dwelled about it. Traveling made me forget all that, it made me feel like I was welcome wherever I visited.
Planet earth, my home my place is a poem made by Michael Jackson and the way he described the Earth was very simple yet unique.
I would read and listen to that poem multiple times when I was a kid and I couldn’t quite understand it back then but when I got older, it made more sense to me.
“Planet Earth, my home, my place
A capricious anomaly in the sea of space
Planet Earth are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid
Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn’t true
You are my sweetheart, soft and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart
Tender with breezes caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.
In my veins I’ve felt the mystery
Of corridors of time, books of history
Life songs of ages throbbing in my blood
Have danced the rhythm of the tide and flood
Your misty clouds, your electric storm
Were turbulent tempests in my own form
I’ve licked the salt, the bitter, the sweet
Of every encounter, of passion, of heat
Your riotous color, your fragrance, your taste
Have thrilled my senses beyond all haste
In your beauty, I’ve known the how
Of timeless bliss, this moment of now
Planet Earth, are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid
Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn’t true
You are my sweetheart, gentle and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart
Tender with breezes caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.
Planet Earth, gentle and blue
With all my heart, I love you.”
We are so focused on “my country” “their country” etc. etc. but in the end, we all live on the same planet, the same planetoid. We share the same water, the same soil…we are all one. So why can’t I say that I live on “Planet Earth” ? Why do I have to say Sweden? Why does it have to be so specific and why do some people despise other races around the world? We aren’t strangers, we are all the same..we are humans.
This is why I enjoy traveling, I can visit different places on our beautiful planet, enjoy the moment, the history and the beauty from different perspectives. I don’t like saying Sweden is my home, because it feels so limited, it makes me feel empty and sad.
For the past 10 years I’ve whispered these words to myself and it’s something that keeps me going towards my destinations in life.
I am from..Planet Earth. It’s my home and my place.
– Siara