Kadijah Webster: Blog #1, What exactly is a nation?

The meaning of a nation varies from person to person.  I believe that a nation is wherever a group of people can identify to themselves as home.  A nation can be built of many small communities or one single community.  Within these domains are traditions, values, and habits that have been passed down or picked up through the years from one person to another.  These traits, along with the people within, establish the foundation for a nation as a whole.  Growing up within the lines, one is developed into a product of their nation.  The things that they stand for or believe is right is all due to the nation that they have been brought up in.  The place that you identify as home, is the nation that has defined you as the person you are in the present.

Similarly, Nathan Adolfson felt that his family was who he grew up with in America and not his biological relatives in Korea.  Nathan was raised by the Adolfsons and did not go on to first meet his biological sister until he was pretty much a grown man.  Even after spending a great deal of time in the country he was born, he still felt as if he didn't belong.  The nation where his heart resides is where he grew up, not where he was simply born.  This is exactly an example of why someone's nation my not be the same as the next person's.  Not only has a nation molded someone into who they currently are, but it is the place where the feel most connected.  Nathan felt that connection with his adoptive family, the ones who have supported him and be by his side for most of his life.

Like Nathan, many people go through the dilemma of finding who they are and where they belong.  Finding your place within society is an important part of growing up.  Whether that place is with many other people or by oneself, it is the place where you can identify yourself and feel most comfortable.   This is the place where you choose to be because it is where you feel the most at ease.  This is your choice and this is your nation.