Why do we miss our homeland?

Travel is beautiful, and I, like many others, am one of its enthusiasts. Travel, as it grants us pleasure, memories, experiences, and openness to the world in all its colors and details, also bestows upon us a gift we often fail to notice. Through travel, we see our homeland from the outside and redefine it within ourselves. I had been away from Kuwait for more than two weeks, on a trip aimed at relaxation, enjoyment, and a change of scenery. I was not in a bad place; on the contrary, the scenes of beauty, life, and activities there served as motivation and drive to move forward with purpose, energy, and happiness. Nothing forced me to return home or hastened my return, yet after a few days, I suddenly felt the desire to come back today rather than tomorrow. Suddenly, a question lit up within me: Why? Why the longing for the homeland? What makes a person leave their country in search of comfort and enjoyment, only to discover that a part of their comfort remains there? Is it the yearning for home, family, and friends? Is there a “hidden” enjoyment in the routine that we are happy to break through travel? Or what? I hesitated to answer this question, but I eventually reached the conviction that we do not fully understand what our homeland means to us while we are inside it. We have become accustomed to seeing the homeland in the congestion of streets, the burdens of home and work, and the overload of appointments and commitments. We frequently criticize what we dislike about our homeland, and sometimes we dream of distancing ourselves from it for a while. However, living abroad, no matter how short and enjoyable, redefines the homeland within us. Yes, the homeland is not just land and a house; it is the place where we do not need to explain ourselves much, because we live there without thinking. Outside the homeland, we often need to be alert and attentive to even the simplest details; everything around us is new. And despite the beauty of the place, the weather, and nature, something remains missing, which the grandeur of the place you reside in or dine in cannot provide you. It is the feeling of being in your own place. The longing for the homeland is not because it is the best in everything, but because it fills us with a sense of warmth; the proof is that returning to it gives us a comfort that is hard to find elsewhere. Certainly, this feeling is not universal to everyone to the same degree, and it is linked to what the homeland has provided each individual. Those whose homeland is associated in their memory with fear, suspicion, and deprivation will not yearn for it in the same way as those who found in it security, safety, respect, and dignity. At this point, I better understand why I, personally, long for Kuwait so quickly. The ease of daily life, the beauty of the people, the warmth of family and friends, and even the short distances, mean a great deal. Small daily details that we never thought had value transform in exile into things of utmost importance. Yes, travel opens the world to us in the beauty we love, but the homeland brings us back to ourselves. End of line. Iqbal Al-Ahmad