To live in the Borderlands

[Dreamer27]

Borderlands is a book written by Gloria Anzaldua, an incredible woman! She wrote it with focus on personal identities: woman, lesbian, Chicana, Indigenous, American, feminist, etc. To live in the Borderlands is not a physical boundary but an internal battle we have with ourselves to overcome physical, geographical and social "borders." It is heavy to carry all the identities with us, to figure out which one belongs, if we belong.

This makes me think of myself and others that may be a mix of cultures. Though I was born in another country, I've lived in the US for most of my life. Yet growing up, it was hard to find others like myself and when I would make friends, I'd be frustrated because I had no friends that looked like me. I would be sad when I'm celebrating holidays like July 4th or Christmas because I didn't celebrate boat festival. I also think the older we get, the more confident we become in our identities so when I was younger, it was more of an internal battle and I felt guilty for not feeling proud enough to celebrate both cultures, both identities.

While the poem primarily focuses on culture, it can also be applied to other characteristics/identities. Examples may be alcholism, depression, poor, Catholic, etc. Essentially it could be tied to anything we feel that makes us an imposter to ourselves. We could identify as Christian but also struggle with addiction. Anything that makes you guilty, shame, hypocrite even.

Some days, it is still hard. I will go back to the borderland and there may be a part of me that will always visit. As I get older, I also have more identities to add, more to carry as I discover myself. But as Anzaldua said, "I am nothing and I belong to no one. Yet I am everything and I am part of everything."

❤️

[just_keep_swimming]

thank you for sharing about that book ! Growing up I felt I never fit in either and still sometimes I feel that way.

[Isinatra]

This world is becoming too small to not be part of everything, and we’ve always been a part of each other, evolutionarily speaking. The change in Geographic's separated us at first so different ideologies and cultures developed. But Geographic's no longer separate us as it once did, so it’s inevitable that we become less different to others. Embrace the change and welcome it because we can’t control the inevitable. Roll with it or we will be forever at war with each other.

Thank you, Dreamer27, for a thought provoking post.

[Dreamer27 in reply to Isinatra]

I love conversations like this! Agree that our world is intertwining more than ever through technological advancement. At times, it feels like we are so connected, and the differences we do have and acknowledge only show uniqueness, not separateness. Other times, it feels like progress is incredibly slow and our differences will always be a problem for chaos.