Fall between two stools

[Deleted]

I would like to know if other people have the same sentiment if they where born in one country, living now in another one. I spend half of my life in Germany, a little bit more than the other half in France and the only answer I can give today if someone ask where I am from is: I am European

[onlymark]

No matter where I now live or how long I live abroad, due to my formative years spent in England, I will be forever from this sceptred isle.

William Shakespeare - "King Richard II"

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

[mossie]

Pleased you feel so patriotic Mark. I used to be, but not any more, Maggie disposed of the Great to the highest foreign bidders and Blair devolved Britain into a bunch of scruffy little countries with no heart. Now we wonder why we are broke when all the big companies can fiddle their taxes and send the cash abroad and the bankers are allowed to collect what is left over.
Roll on the revolution.

[Deleted]

I discovered when I was on the other side of the planet that I would spontaneously defend other European nationalities that were being slandered by ignorant people (and usually not people from the local country, because they didn't pretend to be experts or what the Spanish or Germans or Irish were "all" like).

As for myself, since I have always had two sets of roots, I just know that there are two sides to my culture. But now that I have spent 70% of my life in France, it would be useless to deny that the French side clearly dominates.

[onlymark]

And I'd be near the front of the revolution mossie. I agree with everything you've said. It doesn't stop me feeling English though. The state of the country is one of the reasons I'd be very hesitant to live back there again.

[bixaorellana]

I know I identify most closely with what Mark says of his relationship to England, except of course in my case it's the United States.

He describes exactly my relationship to the parent country, both in feeling American and in my distaste for the current tone of the US.

[patricklondon]

I will be forever from this sceptred isle.

Me too, no matter how good I try to make my French and German.

But it's somehow characteristic, don't you think, that those much-quoted words actually lead up to a complaint that the country's going to the dogs:

This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leased out, I die pronouncing it,
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:
England, bound in with the triumphant sea
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy then were my ensuing death!

And the modern world isn't short of griubby deals that could be used to refer to, either, and from a whole range of political standpoints.

Harrumph.

[bjd]

I rarely ask myself what I feel since the answer seems so complicated. I certainly don't feel Canadian, even though I tend to say that I'm Canadian when someone in France asks where I'm from. I don't feel French because I think you cannot "become French", but I feel most comfortable in Europe.

I think I have mentioned before that I like the term "rootless cosmopolitan", even though in the USSR it was used as an insulting term for Jews. And I'm not "rootless" since I know where my ancestors come from.

So I guess I'm a European, like regards.

[mossie]

Going to the dogs is a very apt phrase to describe the position of England. I get the feeling that we have taken a big step down the path to becoming a "third world" country and it is going to take a very stout effort to drag ourselves back up. I do not see a strong enough leader among the present self serving mob of our politicians, who looks remotely capable. Hence my talk of revolution, because the man in the street is thoroughly hacked off.

[htmb]

I tend to believe in an identity separate from disappointing politicians and questionable governmental practices. I identify with hard working, compassionate, generous people; not those who are out for what they can get, no matter the cost to anyone else. I identify with my love of my geographic area; the beaches, rivers and springs. I identify with my love for family and friends who are here, and I rejoice in the freedoms I am afforded. My country is the good in many - though not all - of my fellow citizens. I haven't been outside the USA for more than four weeks at a time. Though I could see myself living in another country, and would certainly like to have that experience, I am sure I will always identify as an American. My father, who had a terrible love/hate relationship with my brother, used to say, "He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he's MY son-of-a-bitch." I suppose that's also how I feel about my country.

[Don Cuevas]

We have lived in Mexico all but a few weeks each year since 2005. We are looking forward to becoming Residentes Permanentes, with its privileges and responsibilities. I'm still an American by birth, with a U.S. passport. The ties, however, have become more tenuous.

Neither country is perfect.