who you are

if you don't know who you are, then how can you know who anyone else is?
if you don't know who other people are, how can you respect them?
if you don't have respect for other people, how can you live in peace with them?

maybe this little girl and the baby still in utero behind her are learning who they are right now - part of a tradition that belongs here, that has roots right here where their parents' roots are. If so, they are very lucky. But maybe these children will need to go on a longer journey to find out who they are. Maybe their thoughts, needs, desires will fit better elsewhere and they will have to find their own community somewhere. If so, I hope they meet good people along the way and that their parents, who know who they are, respect their children for who they are.

I love traditions of all kinds*, even though I know that I don't fit into any of them :-)

*as long as they are respectful - of course!!