Where are you from?
March 09, 2006
Rather than who you are.
As readers from yesterday will know, I was hob nobbing it at the Dail bar yesterday evening.
I couldn't help noticing that the question on everyone's lips was 'where are you from?'. It reminded me of being in Oirish bars in Sydney, where certain people latch on to where you come from in this country as a means of finding out if you know people in common. I don't like it. Where I was born and the school I attended were beyond my control. The person I am now is a product of the life I have chosen to lead and the people and places that I have met along with the way.
Instead of where you from, it should be 'who are you?', in which case I could give a long and ponderous answers.
That said though, it was a great evening at Leinster House, and wow, what a building!