The Hidden Receipt of Roots and Identity

You don't say where you are from. You show them in your manners, in how you treat people, in how you behave when nobody is watching.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏.

For a long time, I got it wrong, though.

Because roots don't give you permission to excuse your behavior. It's easy to twist them that way: good roots become an excuse for bad habits. If this is where I come from, surely that excuses where I ended up.

It doesn't.

Roots define you. They don't defend you.

You can't hide behind them when you've hurt someone. You can't call it "just how I was raised" and expect that to close the conversation. That's an excuse wearing your roots as a costume.

Then there's the bit I didn't expect roots aren't only an identity; they're a responsibility. You're not just from somewhere. You represent it every day, in every room you walk into.

So, being honest begins with you. Before anyone else sees it, you have to see it first.

Where you come from was never the question.

It's how you carry those roots and identity that tells people who you are.