February Blog: Knowing Your Roots

The easiest action to undertake in the middle of a crisis is to run away. Removing yourself from a hard situation represents the easy way out. However, most people see running away from a problem as a cowardly act and I would have to agree with them. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laila and her family decide to escape Kabul because it has become unsafe to live in. However, she ends up returning because she wants to live out her life in the place where she was born and raised and where she saw so much of her life happen whether good or bad. The longing to maintain at home amidst a crisis is one that I have seen throughout modern culture. For instance, after the September 11^th attacks in New York, most people decided to remain in that area instead of running away. After seeing something so dreadful happen to their beloved ones or their beloved home place, many people refused to leave because of one bad occurrence. The people of New York bonded together instead of departing in several different ways, showing how society strives to get through hard times together by staying true to their roots. For me, staying true to my roots is something I take into consideration with every major decision I make. I always want to be around my family because that is where I know I’ll receive the most help and care from. For college, I am trying to stay as close to home as possible because that’s where I feel most comfortable. Similar to Laila and Kabul, I see the Philadelphia area as my home where I know where everything will be. Yes, there might be some conflict and some hardships, but at the end of everything, my family will still be in that area, which means I will be a part of that area. Too many people nowadays run away from conflict to leave behind their past experiences. I understand that some of them are leaving to search for a better life, but I believe that the best life that most of them will cherish will be to work things out where they are comfortable in.