Future Identity Crisis...

As we ALL well know, I do a lot of thinking. I always have, but recently I have had more time to just think. Think, and read blogs. I read all sorts of blogs, but I especially love to read blogs that have something to do with Ghana or other parts of Africa. Whether someone is adopting from Ghana or is from Ghana or what have you, it's somehow comforting to me.

I recently read a blog by a woman lamenting the question, "Where are you from?" She was Ghanaian born, and raised in a Ghanaian home, but had lived most of her life in London and spent a few years in the U.S. She went on to say how she hated this question, and while she didn't come right out and say it, girlfriend had a serious identity crisis going on. I felt bad for her.

This is not the case for me. I look like, sound like and act like an American from a large southern city (my accent is only slight, but I have southern girl manners). I like that I am Texan, when people ask me where I'm from, I don't say, "America." I say, "Texas!" But that's not who I am, it's just where I am from....and I don't really care. I don't identify myself by my nationality, or my race. I'm surprised by the number of people who do, and who feel lost without that identity. It makes me sad for them. My parents never told me, "Don't identify yourself as a Texan, American or white girl, that's not who you are." But somehow, they got that point across to me. I certainly identify myself as someone who loves Jesus (though the word Christian isn't one I always prefer) and as a member of my family (they rock, you would want to be a part of us too;) but everything else is extra. G and his friends laugh at me because when we are together, I make fun of the junky looking white foreigners right along with them!

....Oh yeah, I'm white too...

I don't see myself (or George, for that matter) struggling with identity. It does make me concerned for our future children though. Will they experience this identity crisis that so many displaced Ghanaians feel? What will they be? Can they be proud Ghanaian-Americans? Should they be proud of such a trivial thing? Our uniqueness is great, but how great should it be? I love the blending of cultures that our family [to be] has, but I certainly don't want to over-emphasize it. God has made such marvelous colors and cultures in this world, but the fact still remains that we are (or should be) citizens of Heaven-our time here is temporary. How far should people go to recognize and hold on to their differences? I don't know...maybe one day I will figure it out.