I read a MySpace profile once of a guy who I guess had been in the Navy for much of his young adult years. Under HOMETOWN he simply put “people have these?”. I couldn’t help but snicker because it sounded like a perfect response for a question that Mitch and I have been plagued with much of our lives (the dreaded, “so, where are you from?”). I think we used to consider ourselves unique when it came to our “global” upbringing but the truth is, our generation and especially the one coming after us, are much more globally aware and experienced then our predecessor’s were.
I can remember Mitch refering to himself and others like us as global nomads. I always thought this was just a term him and his friends had come up with but after coming across this site while doing research at work the other day, I gather it’s actually universally used. It’s a pretty old site but it was interesting to read through, especially her section on Rootlessness/Restlessness, something which I can attest to. We didn’t move around near as much as many of our friends did (really just four times and we never ventured all that far, Norway, Scotland, Norway, B’ville), but our “global exposure” was still very strong simply because our parents were of two different cultures and we went to private international schools with other kids who had lived all over the place. I can remember by dad commenting that he thought I was a little more of a homebody, taking after my mother, wheras Mitch was more like him and liked to travel. Frankly, this is simply not true. I tend to deal with the rootlessness/restlessness problem on a daily basis and I have to admitt that sometimes it can get very hard. But I learned long ago that it didn’t matter where I went, what state or country, it wouldn’t take long before I started thinking about the “next place”. In fact, I’m not sure any global nomad is entirely happy unless they’re sitting on a plane mid-transit between two continents. That moment of transistion can be very exciting for us, however, once we’re there it’s difficult for the experience to maintain its lustre.
Being a global nomad can teach you many things, one of which is the fine art of detachment/reatachment, a skill which eventually blossoms into a kind of bizarre social metamorphism. The survival tactic tends to take two forms. You either learn how to make friends quickly and easily, or you figure out how to be a loner without being too lonely. Some of us don’t quite make it, and I’ve met a few people with a global nomad background who have struggled from some serious social skill problems. It can be really difficult because the whole misfit thing is a given, especially when you’re constantly having to acclimate yourself to a different culture and community. But all in all, I value the experience, despite the tough times. I never thought I would grow up to live in the same little town I graduated highschool from, but staying in one place for more than a few years is slowly teaching me how to appreciate all the nooks and crannies of a community. For instance, I’ve lived here thirteen years and I still haven’t gone to a rodeo. Maybe I should go to a rodeo. I might just get a kick out of watching some fool of a cowboy trying to maintain his sitting balance on a wild bull who obviously doesn’t want to be sat on in the first place.
Recent Comments