When I meet someone new one of the first questionst that I ask them is, “Where are you from?” Where someone is from tells you a lot about them. It provides a context for you to understand at least a little about how they might move through the world or the kinds of experiences that they may have.
One of the saddest things I’ve experienced was during a service trip to Eastern Kentucky. We were in Menifee County which is one of the poorest countries in the United States. The people there are kind and loving but they do not have much. I was talking with a mother and daughter. I had asked where they lived. Their faces fell, “Well the government just took our post office, they say where we live doesn’t exist anymore. Just like that where we’ve lived our whole lives just no longer exists. Cause, we can tell you that where they say we live, we sure as heck don’t.”
