I have two homes.
One is the land I love, my country the United States of America. I take pride in my country and our accomplishments. This is the great land of unlimited opportunity. We have many ills and ailments, but it is a land of so much good. When we truly treat everyone equally and allow everyone their God-given freedoms, it is a place like no other. It is here where I can accomplish whatever I wish despite the past and present mistreatments of my people. I can dream the dream of a good life for my children even though there are still people who will judge them on the color of their skin and not the content of their character. It is in this land that I can be an eternal optimist and believe that good will win out over any unfair or unequal treatment because ultimately what is absurd cannot coexist with what is right.
My other home is unknown yet familiar to me, the great continent of Africa. Africa is commonly presented to us in minimal terms and treated as a country instead of the great continent it is. I am estranged from my roots in this land. I do not know what country or rather what compilation of countries I am from. While I do not physically know Africa, it is indeed part of my soul. I feel it. I know its spirit. When I hear the stories and see the photographs, I feel connected as though I have been there. I admire those who visit and exclaim they feel “home” the moment they touch the ground. I aspire to visit and embrace that feeling. I imagine the air I will breathe. I know I will sense a familiarity in it. I long to visit the coast where the ships kidnapped and stole away with my ancestors. I will feel their presence in my bones. I will sense their pain. The anxiety they felt about the unknown will resonate throughout me. How unfathomable it is to even imagine being torn away from home and family. To touch that ground is to fellowship with the ancestors. Through that experience not only are we connecting to home but so are the ancestors whose blood flows through our veins.
I am a composite of these two lands. I carry within me a great story. My past, present, and future tell the stories of civilizations, determination, perseverance, and unlimited potential. If I can connect to where I came from, I can ultimately decide where I am going and how to get there successfully.
M.D. Anderson
