see i made a space for you now

It's been an incredible 48 hours, watching what's happened across the USA, as thousands have turned out to defy and protest against Donald Trump's executive order to ban citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the USA.

There was chaos that ensued, and arguably there is a constitutional crisis brewing in the Republic.

Some would argue that this confusion is exactly what Bannon and the inner circle of the White House want.

I watched in disbelief and some anger, some fear and then this video appeared and I just lost it.

International arrivals @Dulles_Airport pic.twitter.com/rcvl8T7GUY

— Kim Kingsley (@kimkingsley) January 28, 2017

Watching that made me tear up... because the sense in that clip hit me in the gut, because of another video..

This one features children coming home, after being away from family. Children a bit dazed after a day of travelling on their own. Parents disorientated as well, looking for bags, for the right bits of paper. Families that have been apart for six months, now rejoined for a brief time.

My father shot this footage, sometime in the mid 1980's. It is in Hatyai, South Thailand - what was then a single strip runway with about half a dozen checkin counters.

My grandfather is Chinese.
My father is from Fiji.
My mother is from New Zealand.
My two brothers are born in Thailand.
My sister and I were born in New Zealand.
We lived in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines for 18 years.

My partner is Northern Irish.
My daughters are Irish-Fijian-Chinese-New Zealanders.

Defining what home is has always been complex for me.

Is it where I choose to be?
Where my family is? Where my friends reside?
Is it a physical place, with sights and sounds and smells?
Is it somewhere I carry inside, able to be held close, regardless of where I land?
Is it being comfortable being between spaces and places?
What will be the home my daughters choose?

All of these questions have formed, and still form who I am.

But knowing what it is to be home is the singular most powerful emotion I know.

To be in a place that welcomes you.
To be with people who open their arms.

That is what I saw and heard in that video from America.

And that is what this is about.

How do we as citizens of this world make homes for those who have none?

How do we demonstrate our humanity?

During a time in which the majority of our world leaders, with a few notable exceptions, seem unable to do the same.

We do what was shown at Dulles, we step out and we stand for what we know is right.

Not for any reason other than that it is right, and good and what it is to be human.