Some Thoughts About "Home"
In a world of voluntary and involuntary mobility, home is an illusive concept. Is it a birthplace, a place of domicile, a residence, a cultural place, a place where one intends to be buried? Having lived for many years in Ireland, and having deep and ancient familial roots there, I must say that is something about Ireland as a land and place that is attractive endearing. My family, comes from two diametrically opposed sides of Ireland. My Breckenridge/Preston/Stewart/Forbes ancestors (the ones hanging on the wall) were all of the protestant ascendancy, and ironically were, for a time, instrumental in the attempted destruction of the other side of my family-which were at the core of the old Irish order. In the end, they both either died in the ensuing wars, or were forced to flee, on the one side to Holland and America, on the other to France and America. I would be proud to hang portraits of the O’Neills on my walls to, but there aren't many- only the winners get portraits.
It is clear that the Irish have a special place in the world-all that have gone before us have long since proven it. I am proud of those who have come before me and of their achievements-few were grand people in the global sense, but all made their contribution -and still are. With each generation the weave gets richer. We are all refugees and pioneers-just in different ways. I am very proud of our past-but more proud of our future.
That being said, by any measure I have many homes. Born in Illinois, in a town where I never lived, growing up all over the world, creating a career in Washington DC and Paris and a life and family in Ireland. I would say my "Home" is where i lie down my head. Interestingly, very few of my ancestors ever had a "home place". From Ireland and the East coast of the Americna colonies they moved westward generation after generation. They never viewed any geographic place as Home-Except of course America, with family tales and legends tied to Ulster and Scotland. On the O’Neill side, we have been homeless since 1609, driven from place to place, name outlawed, lands forfeited, scattered to France and America. The O’Neills, both in America and France made the military their home.
My grandmother always talked fondly of her home in Cork, but her husband’s favorite toast was “thank God we are not in Ireland”. I cannot conceive of permanent ties to any one place in the world-the concept of comicality is alien. I hope that has passed that on to my children and grandchildren-we are children of the world. Perhaps, rather than America First or Europe First or other such nationalist jingoism, we should instead say "humanity first". In that concept we should embrace all of our differences, and our similarities.
In a world of voluntary and involuntary mobility, home is an illusive concept. Is it a birthplace, a place of domicile, a residence, a cultural place, a place where one intends to be buried? Having lived for many years in Ireland, and having deep and ancient familial roots there, I must say that is something about Ireland as a land and place that is attractive endearing. My family, comes from two diametrically opposed sides of Ireland. My Breckenridge/Preston/Stewart/Forbes ancestors (the ones hanging on the wall) were all of the protestant ascendancy, and ironically were, for a time, instrumental in the attempted destruction of the other side of my family-which were at the core of the old Irish order. In the end, they both either died in the ensuing wars, or were forced to flee, on the one side to Holland and America, on the other to France and America. I would be proud to hang portraits of the O’Neills on my walls to, but there aren't many- only the winners get portraits.
It is clear that the Irish have a special place in the world-all that have gone before us have long since proven it. I am proud of those who have come before me and of their achievements-few were grand people in the global sense, but all made their contribution -and still are. With each generation the weave gets richer. We are all refugees and pioneers-just in different ways. I am very proud of our past-but more proud of our future.
That being said, by any measure I have many homes. Born in Illinois, in a town where I never lived, growing up all over the world, creating a career in Washington DC and Paris and a life and family in Ireland. I would say my "Home" is where i lie down my head. Interestingly, very few of my ancestors ever had a "home place". From Ireland and the East coast of the Americna colonies they moved westward generation after generation. They never viewed any geographic place as Home-Except of course America, with family tales and legends tied to Ulster and Scotland. On the O’Neill side, we have been homeless since 1609, driven from place to place, name outlawed, lands forfeited, scattered to France and America. The O’Neills, both in America and France made the military their home.
My grandmother always talked fondly of her home in Cork, but her husband’s favorite toast was “thank God we are not in Ireland”. I cannot conceive of permanent ties to any one place in the world-the concept of comicality is alien. I hope that has passed that on to my children and grandchildren-we are children of the world. Perhaps, rather than America First or Europe First or other such nationalist jingoism, we should instead say "humanity first". In that concept we should embrace all of our differences, and our similarities.
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