Teera believes there's an inviolable tie to one's homeland. Do you agree? Why do think the old couple on the plane are happy to return to Cambodia when it's been the place of such tragedy?

Teera believes there's an inviolable tie to one's homeland. Do you agree? Why do think the old couple on the plane are happy to return to Cambodia when it's been the place of such tragedy?

Home is always where the heart is.

There’s no place like home! My grandfather immigrated to America from Velke Stankovce, near the city of Trencin, Austria-Hungary around 1907. My grandmother and three children joined him around 1909. Grandma never learned the English language. The children, my mother and her sisters and brothers were bilingual. When I was a child I would ask my mother why Grandma did not speak English and the answer was because she was proud to be from what my mother always referred to as the old country. I thought Grampa spoke English. He was very quiet. When we would visit he and my Dad would sit together and have one small glass of wine. Grandma would only give them one and it was for medicinal purposes only! Grandpa died when I was 5 years old. Recently I asked an older cousin if Grandpa spoke English. He answered Grampa thought he did but he really did not!

What a nice story Maggie.

I have to agree that where you come from is just as much a part of who you are as any other factor. It brings comfort when you feel like you belong.

Cambodia was the place of the old couple's roots and, in their hearts, their true home. At the time of the flight, Teera is only feeling the anguish of the losses she'd endured there. As her memories return and she finds joy in Cambodia, she again finds joy in her homeland. There are always ties to one's homeland/hometown.

Yes, I agree. Though one accepts his adopted country, his thoughts do not easily stray away from the country of his birth. I think it would be very difficult to sever the ties to one's native land. The old couple is happy because they are returning to their roots.

The Cambodian culture is deeply rooted in religion and family that I can see why its people are so tied to the country. Their resilience through so much tragedy shows the strength and depth of their connections to Home.

I never might have believed the tie to one place could be that strong, if I had not lived it myself. I moved from nj to tx, and loved it at first, but after a few months, I started to get so homesick- I started to hate the heat, the bugs, the different bird sounds, the accents...all I wanted was what I knew, the familiar. So dumb ;). Getting home to nj felt amazing bc I suddenly felt connected, like I was a part of that place and I was now home. Puzzle piece fitting into its place.

The old couple is so happy because they are returning to their home, their culture, food and traditions. It is everything they know. My father was from PA and moved to NY as a teenager, but his whole life he spoke of PA as home. We were going home for Christmas or Easter. My mother was from Ireland, and when a letter arrived from her sister, or brother, it was always a letter from home. She spoke and told stories about home. I remember my first trip to Ireland. My family, cousins had a party with a huge cake that said Welcome Home and I truly felt like I was home. It brought back so many memories of my mother.

I’ve always heard you can't go home again. To me, this means you cant return home and have it just like you remember. I do believe our memories of home are always with us. In the case of the old coulple it meant returning to the familar and to people of the same culture.

Yes, I do believe there is an inviolable tie to one's homeland. Even if one left at a young age, the traditions and culture may be maintained in the new place, and not forgotten. Political psychologists have written about these ingrained national and ethnic ties, and how they have an effect throughout life. I believe the old couple on the plane was happy because they were going back to what they had known in an earlier "life" and the tie to the land still bound them. I wasn't born in Italy, but my grandparents kept the culture and traditions of their homeland alive for their many grandchildren. The first time I set foot in Italy, as an adult, I felt at home there although I hadn't been there before.