pondering roots

What does it mean to have roots? To have your navel string tied to a place? I have eaten Cascadoo once (curried), so maybe, as the legend says, wherever I go in my lifetime, I will return to Trinidad to die. 

Lately I've been thinking about the concept of having Caribbean roots and realising that I don't fully know what it means. It must mean something different to everyone, but I have never felt or explored it consciously. 'Roots' must be archaic and far reaching, touching mystical and unknown depths within each of us. What does that word/concept really mean? 'Roots'. My roots are here in Trinidad at least to the extent that I was born here. My even deeper and older roots are in the Caribbean at least to the extent that my parents and many of my forefathers/mothers were born within the region. However, my leaves, branches, flowers and fruits are Universal ... not tied to a specific place. What nutrients do I get from the ground in which my roots are fixed through birth? And when I bear fruit where are they readily harvested?

 

Comments

[Christopher Yee Mon]

I would think that having roots means being grounded by the past. Waking up and knowing that you're a node in a much wider grid or a fiber in a bigger quilt or something to that effect.

I would think that having roots would mean that you know that there was a distinct past with meanigful stories that led to your creation, and that you can gain a sense of importance and guidance from the trials of your ancestors.

[Elspeth]

True ... from the trials (of) and trails (left by) ancestors.

[b.art]

Wow, Christopher really hit the bulls eye right there.
Pesonally, I dont consider things like Caribbean or even Jamaica when I think about roots. Roots has to do with what those people, places, stories and memories that you cling to when its snowing in the middle of some foreign land. Its what you think about when at some point you feel lost and stop to ask yourself "who am I?" Come on, you know you've all done it.