MY world.

I want to belong to the world, but its people won't let me. It weighs me down with obstacles - forcing me to label myself, restrict myself, limit myself. Money, power, greed, employment, politics, religion... these have all created boundaries that are not easy to cross over.

I want to belong to the WHOLE world, but I am forced to identify myself within political boundaries. And yet confusion arises, because the land of my birth is no longer where my home is; nor is it the land of my forefathers. It is not the land where some of my most formative experiences have been. It is not the land where all the people important to me live. They are scattered; struggling for allegiance to countries where they have toiled and hoped. The struggle to belong, and struggle to remember, and stay connected to where they came from. Their badge of belonging is their passport, which accordingly opens doors, or closes them.

I want to belong to the whole world, and revel in its varied beauty and experiences. Not only does the whole concept of visas hamper this, but so does my financial standing. And yet I feel so lucky. There are people who haven't stepped out of their villages; they haven't had the opportunity, and it saddens me that they never will. And what of those others, who could traverse the world easily, but do so with a closed mind and heart? We, as humans, seem so keen to be better than everyone else, that we forget to see how our differences can be truly amazing. Differences should not be as threatening as we make them out to be - they are an opportunity to learn, to grow, to embrace, to accept.

I want to belong to the whole world, and on most days I do. I may never see all of it, or even the parts I crave to. But ask me my allegiance, and I won't be able to confine myself to a single area marked by political boundaries. My world is much greater. And noone can really change that.