Where are you going?

It is important to know where we come from, because if you don’t know where you come from then you don’t know where you are and if you don’t know where you are then you don’t know where you’re going.  And if you don’t know where you are going, you’re probably going wrong.

Terry Pratchett, 2010

So where are you going?  Where do you come from?

There are the easy answers.  I come from country so and so, I’m such and such a natioality, I’m such and sucha profession and so on.

Then there is the more sophisticated reflection. A mix of the thoughts we have about ourselves.  What we think and why.

When someone asks me where do you come from?  I used to burble some litany about by multicultural heritage and upbringing – a bit of this and a bit of that, a bit of here and a bit of there.  That might still be part of the conversation but my answer now gets to the core:
“Where do you come from?”
“I come from my mum.”
That allows me to pay respect to my parents and signal that we are all more than just a nationality or profession.  Then the conversation can explore the real me and you.
It is a step in the right direction.