Photo Credit: Stanczak, Ainsley. 2016.
A simple passport can hold so many different memories and connotations to every individual. To me, my passport is evidence of the places I’ve travelled. It has stamps from trips around the world where I have created so many memories. My passport is a part of my personality; it is the part of me that loves to travel and experience new cultures. I also see it as one of the most important objects I own as, for 10 years, it was the object that allowed me to travel back to my home country, USA, from Singapore. It was the key I needed to travel from my house to my home but now that my entire family lives in the US; it’s lost some necessity.
Many people around the world don’t have passports as they’ve never left their home country but to third culture kids, that fact seems ridiculous. Passports are of the upmost importance to TCKs because they’ve enabled them to live in another country, to travel to new places, to visit friends and family at home, and so much more. Although I don’t need my passport to go visit my parents I still need it to explore the world. I still need it to remember all of the trips and look at all the stamps it’s collected with the memories those bring.
Besides the stories each page of a passport tells, passports are important because they carry identity. Many TCKs may have dual citizenship and with that comes two physical documents that say, “Here is where I’m from.” My American passport tells people that this is my home country no matter where I live. It is physical evidence that I am American even though I haven't lived in the U.S. for a decade. This identity is important to TCKs because many have trouble defining a hometown but a passport can define a home country, culture, and identity.
Many people around the world don’t have passports as they’ve never left their home country but to third culture kids, that fact seems ridiculous. Passports are of the upmost importance to TCKs because they’ve enabled them to live in another country, to travel to new places, to visit friends and family at home, and so much more. Although I don’t need my passport to go visit my parents I still need it to explore the world. I still need it to remember all of the trips and look at all the stamps it’s collected with the memories those bring.
Besides the stories each page of a passport tells, passports are important because they carry identity. Many TCKs may have dual citizenship and with that comes two physical documents that say, “Here is where I’m from.” My American passport tells people that this is my home country no matter where I live. It is physical evidence that I am American even though I haven't lived in the U.S. for a decade. This identity is important to TCKs because many have trouble defining a hometown but a passport can define a home country, culture, and identity.