Sometimes a single factoid can change the way you look at the world. Here was a recent one for me, quoted in this month’s Prospect, and originating from Geoff Mulgan of the Young Foundation:
One third of British citizens live within five miles of their birthplace.
I tend to imagine that we live in a culture defined by movement and change; that people are being constantly uprooted; that our sense of belonging (whether for a place, a tradition, or a set of values) is becoming weaker and weaker. There must be some truth to this, distorted by my own prejudices and the experience of living in a metropolis like London.
But there is the factoid: twenty million of us Brits live within walking distance of where we were born. We may not feel very rooted, and we may have been somewhere else in between – but that is where we have planted ourselves now. Belonging is more powerful than I thought, whether it is through a lifestyle choice or through harsh economic or social necessity.
It was only a few seconds later, after wondering about all these ‘other people’ who lived so locally, that I realised it was true for me too – born in Tottenham Court Road and now living in Chelsea, about three miles as the crow flies. I’ve ended up pretty near ‘home’ (the maternity ward at the old University College Hospital), with a few detours on the way.
Fr Stephen I think that your observation is quite right. “Belonging is more powerful than I thought, whether it is through a lifestyle choice or through harsh economic or social necessity.”
Though most especially for me on a spiritual level. For me who personally never had a formal faith as a child, that sense of deep rooted spiritual belonging has always remained elusive, just out of tangible reach, just beyond the horizon.
I found your short faith story and laughed, as I too explored the possibility of New age, then Eastern philosophies, and ‘other ways’ before I accidentally discovered the Catholic faith. I laughed too because I also refused to kneel. Unlike you nobody in my family was of the Catholic faith. And then I grew to Love and embrace it.
Because of life’s experience for me unfortunately fully belonging to my chosen faith is not a possibility, and will always remain just beyond my grasp, but by giving my children the gift of faith, I hopefully have now given all my children that innate sense of belonging and security, so that no matter where they socially lay their hat they will forever be rooted in Him and have a deep and eternal sense of belonging. I also live in the same county as my birth place just. But heart belongs to London as of londoner parentage.
Also Since having children, both husbandy and myself have permantly settled to our childhood county after living in various locations throughout the uk.
Hi Father Stephen, many thanks for another thought provoking post. I am one of those people who has stayed in the locality I was born and raised in all my life. Largely this has been through lifestyle choice and because I feel I belong in this area. As I approach my 50th birthday, I am increasingly aware of the importance of ‘belonging’, be this in my family, work, parish. I suppose I am not alone in deriving some comfort in feeling that I am close to my ‘roots’ where my family has lived for generations. That is not to say that I know people I grew up with who are equally fulfilled and content having moved far away from their own areas and become members of communities in other countries and continents, growing new roots.
hi,
the title of the post tickled me – I have just attended a conference on mindfulness – someone quoted a telling humourous remark that may be of interest for all those interested in contemplative prayer also:
“…(Mr. Duffy) lived a short distance from his body…”
Don’t we all.
I myself, geographically, needed to get away from my mother tongue – found my Mecklenburg roots while living in North Wales and am now a happy locum social worker touring in my caravan from assignment to assignment – thus in a fashion carrying on my great-great-grandfathers’ tradition of being nomad shepherds in the northeast of Germany …
Interesting post. Strangely enough I’m always taken aback to meet neighbours in their 30s or 40s who were born or grew up near the village I live in. So many of us are incomers, I’ve come to (wrongly) presume that everyone is.
I’m reading Georges Perec’s “Species of Spaces and Other Pieces” and this section called ‘Of Movement’ reminded me of this blog piece, especially as I’m one of those 20 million that live within 5 miles of where I was born and have lived in 2 different houses on the same street!
“We live somewhere: in a country, in a town in that country, in a neighbourhood in that town, in a street in that neighbourhood, in a building in that street, in an apartment in that building.
We should long ago have got into the habit of moving about, of moving about freely, without it being too much trouble. But we haven’t done so, we’ve stayed where we were; things have stayed as they were. We haven’t asked ourselves why it was there and not somewhere else, why it was like this and not otherwise. Then, think we were well off where we were. After all, we were as well off there as over the road.
We have difficulty changing, even if it’s only the position of our furniture. Moving house is quite a business. We stay in the same neighbourhood, we miss it if we change.
Something extremely serious needs to happen for us to agree to move: wars, famines, epidemics.
We find it hard to get acclimatized. Those who arrived a few days before you did look down on you. You stay in your own small corner, with the people from your corner. You remember with nostalgia your little village, your little river, the big field of mustard you could see when leaving the main road.”