One more thing, Obama's mom is as white as the driven snow....

Rich I think he used Obama as an example because Obama's father is from Kenyan not "African American." Also his mom was an anthropology major and thus when into the field all over the world to study taking Obama & sis with her everywhere (I believe he lived a good portion of his life in Indonesia and the UK?) so he is DEFINATELY a TCK. Being more conservative than him I didn't vote for him but to deny he is TCK is just wrong.

I gotta say it is complicated.

On one hand, I am forever thankful for my broadened horizons. I know a lot of people who go through life and then suddenly hit a wall. They break down and scream at the world "I just can't live like this!" They cry out for help but look at me strangely when I tell them, "Then don't." They don't understand that there are other ways to live, other ways to move through live, other ways to interact with their community, other ways to balance work and family....

I do, and I'm forever greatful for that. I know that if Eastern US culture fails me, I can make my way as man of the West, or I can drift and get by like an Islander, or I can do any number of things. I don't get caught up in the rat race of modern life because I know that I can choose not to run, or to run in a different race entirely. Being a TCK has shown me that there are options out there.




On the other hand... It's lonely. It took me a long time, but I found somewhere to belong. Thats good, I have a place. But I lack someone to share it with, someone who understands my jokes or knows what I'm thinking... I've got friends who are willing to listen, but they've got to work at it to understand why I feel this way, It hurts a bit, to know that you can literally feel their pains, share their struggles, love their victories, but they will never share yours...

I would say that the pain you speak of sometimes makes me stronger and sometimes breaks me.

It makes me stronger in that I pursue creating a social network and making friends more than most people, and try to get involved in my community, wherever that may be. When everyone is depressed at work, I try and suggest a fun activity we can do together to lighten the atmosphere. I know what it's like to be an outsider, so I always try and include people around me, and I'm sensitive to the different viewpoints in any multicultural setting. It also makes me spend time trying to strengthen bonds I have with my family.

It breaks me when I've had a disapointment or problem, and I start feeling lonely or unsupported or like a stranger in my own home. Like if I get yelled at by my boss, or fight with my mom on the phone, or all my friends happen to be busy and there's no-one to hang out with on a particular weekend... Then life's challenges seem too much to bear, and everything feels empty. I feel like I'm drifting with no home, friendships are transient, and I have no motivation or energy to keep my chin up.

After a nasty spat with my SO tonight, I have to say all of the above.

And I have to agree that "there is nothing like being rejected for who you are" or at times more accurately: being rejected for *not* being who they want you to be. I can still vividly remember the times in HS where there was retribution for refusing to be streamed into an ESL class (despite having one of the highest PSAT verbal scores) or for fighting to take a full course load like any other student. I remember being given an "F" in French not for language abilities but for the *style* in which I wrote the exam.

After college, being TCK was a mixed blessing. I was frequently picked out as the assistant to bring to dinners and meetings with clients because I could "chitchat" a variety of topics and had good table manners for a number of cultures and cuisines. Back in the office, I was the target of jealous gossip and sabotage from coworkers.

Tonight, I have just been accused of being a chronic liar, an insufferable know-it-all, and a distorter of reality. "Where is that schoolmate of yours that is a Prince of some European country, the Ambassador of another and some famous designer?" That hurt because it was from my SO, who has seen what photos I have from my childhood.

While finding out that I'm TCK has helped a lot in reassuring me that I'm not insane or hormonally imbalanced, I still have to deal with the roller coaster of daily life as it comes at me.

I haven't recovered yet, but I'm sure as hell not broken!

theres nothing like being rejected for who you are cuz they (locals) cant relate/understand no matter how adaptable you are. its breaking when that happens and isolation is the result. to find something or someone to engage your TCK drive is extremely difficult - social networks have helped. however nothing can trump human contact and interaction.

I didn't have the TCK label to identify my struggles until recently. I felt really alone for a long time, even though I had family and a lot of friends that cared deeply for me. I felt like my friends loved and accepted me but that they just did not understand the what I was experiencing. The fact that they tried to listen and tried to understand made it bearable until I could figure out all the conflicting emotions. It took years of tears. I can imagine that if I had never felt accepted and loved, it would have scarred me deeply. I also appreciated the many opportunities I had stateside to get together with friends from Hong Kong to talk about our issues and experiences. Those times were amazingly healing.

It makes you stronger. That doesn't mean that it's always easy, but it makes you more capable of facing and dealing with all sorts of challanges in life.

I think it has made me stronger, but I still struggle and sometimes feel "broken" at times when I look around me somtimes and realize I have no "best" friend in my life. I have many, many, many friends, but no one that truly knows me (not even my spouse). I look back at my life like a cat with nine lives, only I think I'm living my 14th....every move to a new city is a new life which is full of excitement, apprehension, doubt, wonder, and new adventures but it is also the "death" of my former life....my friendships with those I leave are difficult to keep strong, some whither away completely and some linger, but just barely. I find myself feeling guilty that I didn't try harder to keep up those friendships....and then realize it is a two way street. I am thankful for things like facebook because I can keep up with the little day to day things that go on in my friends' lives....not a replacement for best friend, but it's something.

i have said it is complicated because i have to make choices sometimes almost on a daily basis. the pain of rejection n not belonging hit me very hard n still does to a certain degree. when i choose to be bitter and angry about my experiences i get broken. when i choose to use my experiences to help others and accept the love n devotion being given to me then i am made stronger. i cant absolutely say i stronger but i can say i am getting stronger by the day and learning to respond postively to the stimuli around me whether the stimuli is positive or negative.

When I was younger, rejection completly damaged me. It made me bitter, angry, hateful, and suspicious against people and the world. It took me years to be healed from the damege, but I came to the point to accept the damage as blessing. I do not fit in, but this sense of not belonging is helping me to observe the majority/popular society and to develop unique views that people in mono culture probably would not think about.

I think it's made me stronger and more understanding of others, but it's been painful because so few people can understand what I feel, so it's isolating. And that isolation is something I still haven't gotten over, so I'd have to say it's both, it's made me stronger but it's made me more vulnerable and that has made me weaker.

It is very complicated, at times... or most of the time I feel a lot stronger as a person. I feel I have the ability to look past all the smaller problems and figure out what is important in life. Yet I also can go the other way sometimes.. I have suffered mild depression on and off through time which makes those moments very hard.

I believe if a TCK isn't aware that there are so many people feeling the same way it can be very hard. I believe it's a struggle that we must deal with now and overcome it so in the long run we can be those stronger individuals.

The answer is both - it could damage you or make you stronger. If you are alone and don't work through the pain, the experiences can turn into permanent damage, long-lasting depression, lack of self-worth, etc. If you are able to be in community, be valued by others, work through the challenges, find supportive friends and counselors, and build on the strengths that come out of your experiences, then the multi-cultural identity can be wonderful. Ultimately I believe that God gave us this identity for a purpose, so it is designed to be positive and make us stronger. In fact, what was once damage can become strength.

Long run, it made me stronger, much more tolerant, & more understanding of others. Short term, it was extremely painful. Returning to the US totally Asian in my outlook and going through the earlier stages of adolescence at the same time was the hardest thing I've ever lived through. I completely rejected the society and the people in it. It was several years before I could get along with my peer group at all. Now, at 56, I've had a LOT of happy years. I have coping skills the great majority of people I meet don't have and a solid perspective about what is truly important. I have the ability to work comfortably with people from other cultures, which has made my career much more satisfying. The whole experience has made me more adventurous and well, fearless. I do tend to get a bit bored if I don't leave the country at intervals, though! :)

Both, for mostly the same reasons everyone mentioned above.

I don't know if any TCK fully recovers from all the pain they experience through moving. Either way, it's definitely a long progress. However, at the same time, it definitely makes us stronger in many aspects. We become more open-minded, more adaptable, etc.

You know they always say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Is the converse true? Many thanks to you guys who have the guts to take advocacy roles for us. Many of my friends are so far in denial of pain that they're hard to talk to.

Born as a wedlock kid in the late 50's from a stateless Russian mother and an American father, and being raised in Kobe, Japan while attending a Franciscan missionary school, life was very complicated from the start. I never really recuperated from the adolescent years with its identity crisis, but coped and held on to the little bit of sanity I thought I had within me.

Until one day, about 8 years ago I met a missionary at church who took an interest in me and told me that I was a TCK. She explained to me and helped me understand all the submerged emotions I had kept within me was a natural defensive mechanism we (TCKs) had to use to cope with each episode we had in front of us. I was 45 years old when this revelation was spoken to me.... How did I feel? I can only describe it as this whole-heavy-burden-had-been-lift-off-from-me feeling. I remember just repeating "I'm a third-culture-kid", "I'm a TCK...", to every person I would encounter.... It was like "I finally know who I am!"

The scars of my first 45 years will not disappear overnight. But all the learning lessons that I had gone through have now risen to help me understand and give me strong insights on how to cope with the future. So Brice, I would say it all made me strong and flexible, I could also add that tenderheartedness was also gained to those who have yet to discover that "they are TCKs, too".

Life was all over South Asia and Southeast Asia, moving every 3-4 years and attending various international schools. It's complicated because I think I would answer to both answers depending on when I was asked in my life. Being uprooted was difficult as a child and teenager, especially when it was a place I was beginning to feel connected and did not want to leave. I think the adolescent years can be a confusing time for many as it was for me. To add the stress of adjusting to a new community on top of feeling teenage angst was really hard to cope with at times. I have a pile of sketchbooks and journals filled with some pretty dark stuff from back in the day to prove it. Honestly, i may have been just as confused and conflicted if I had grown up in the same small town, maybe even more so....so it's hard to say. It was the discovery of my love for the outdoors that got me out of my dark teenage brain. I think it's all about finding out what makes you feel most alive...then we begin our own path of healing whatever wounds we were carrying around.

I know that 'home' does not exist in one place and that it moves where I move, where my family moves. The word community is something I have never truly known in comparison to those who have grown up in one place. This has made me envious of the stability of the lives of the friends I have made in the US, yet I would never trade my life for theirs. Deep down at my roots, I feel gratitude for the growth in the challenging times of readjustment as well as the cultural richness that has always surrounded me because of my family's lifestyle. Living overseas has defined me and made me who I am, and now I want to go back to that life. It doesn't feel quite right to live in the US, to stay here for too long. I wonder if my habit of moving, forced upon me as a child, is now a tendency I own myself. Am I running away from something in myself, or is it that I want to be refreshed and rejuvenated by new scenery? It's probably a little of both.

I am on my way to begin a career working in international schools, partly because I may continue the life I know so well and also to connect to the kids who are going through all the same stuff I was. It all comes full circle sometimes, doesn't it? :)

ps. thank you for all your thoughtful comments, my thoughts resonate in the words written by other TCKs.

I find it strange that you use Obama as an example of a TCK. Are all African Americans TCK's? I think not. Is there angst and a sense of not belonging between ethnic cultures in America? of course! but these black friends mentioned in your quote are not living in a culture distinctly different than the one their parents grew up in except in the sense that it has changed with the passage of time. That is not the definition of a TCK.

While I agree that mental pain makes one more prone to physical real diseases I think that is something EVERYONE has to deal with not just us TCKs. I find in my personal experience in my family and friends that TCKs who come from parents that love each other and stayed together have just as good a sense of belonging as that of non-TCKs of that same background. I also find ALL of my non-TCK friends who have broken families have those same feelings of not belonging as TCKs who come from broken families do.

On a personal note the hour I realized that it was my broken family and NOT being a TCK was why I had these feelings more than the 'Average Joe' was the minute I stopped having them more often than normal, started living life full ramparts, and stopped having the consideration that I was a loser (which of course only sets up a self fullfilling prophesy). From then on I've been able to get most of what I've wanted out of life. I have a stable relationship of almost 7 years now (married 5), have gone back to start getting my degree I want (rather than the first one I got out of family compromise), have a house, dog and pretty much the whole "American Dream" kit and kaboodle (except the kids which I'm on a diet to get my body ready for).

Maybe it's cause I come from a social-worker mother who was more a proponent of "factulty psychology" and talk based therapies rather than the "drug & label" stuff currently in vogue, maybe it's because as an Anthropology major there is a natural scientific based antagonism to a 'science' that keeps stepping into our turf and who's assumptions on illness don't bare out to the medical standard, and maybe it's cause I'm a Scientologist (or as I think all three) but I just don't buy this way of reasoning.

"Does The Pain of Rejection and Not Belonging Make You Stronger or Damage You?" We'll I don't feel that anymore or even believe the premis because I found MY answer and solution. It may or may not work for you as each person has to find the solution for them, their "why" they feel this way. They have to find their own way of finding it to be it politics or religion or profesor or a good family friend who helps them start realizing their potential.

Personally I believe all human children belong to the human races as a whole and that the planet will be better off the minute we all realize that the race card is bogus and that there is no "US and Them" but only "US."

My two cents....

I think it has mostly made me stronger, but I'm also not sure that I have enough information yet to judge, as I am only 21. My parents themselves come from different countries, so I struggle the most with national identity. I am comfortable saying that I am a TCK, and it really has been the best experience, but national identity--the fact that I don't really even have a home country--haunts me the most.

I am stronger for being a TCK.
Like so many I struggled when I came back to my passport country and joined the last two years of schooling as a 17 year old. I remember saying that 'I find it hard to find close friends because people do not understand me, and I have little in common with them.' Now I know and accept it was because of my upbringing, spending 10 years in East Africa when I was growing up.
I only lived in my passport country 6 years and then moved away, travelling and going to college. Now I have lived in the UK for 20 years...wow! And that is mainly because I haven't been able to afford to move elsewhere.
I am very lucky in that I have an incredibly close relationship with fellow students from the International School I went to, mainly via Facebook, and that helps me place myself into our global TCK society. Without them I would still be struggling.
I think as a TCK I can cope much better with change and I am also much more aware what's going on in the world. I am rootless, yes, but I think of myself as a World Citizen.

I would have to say that it has made me both. Growing up I was often very depressed as I felt I was alone with my struggles of the lifestyle I grew up in. However, as I did not have any choice but to somehow get pass all the moving and change, I did develop my own way of coping. I am both damaged in certain aspects of my life and also strong willed when I need to be.

Even now as an adult I still have my issues and struggles with my identity but at the same time, I find that I can derive some comfort and confidence from the whole situation.

It both made me stronger and damaged me. Here's why:

Feeling out of place, lost, and abandoned (sent to boarding school in a country that was neither my passport country nor the country where my parents were working) forced me to develop coping mechanisms. Those coping mechanisms have made me stronger and allowed me to weather a variety of challenges in my life, including the ongoing feeling of being out of place, even as an adult TCK who has lived in her passport country for the past 20 years.

But the coping mechanisms I developed were not all healthy, and in that way, I've been damaged. I have had an eating disorder since shortly after returning to my passport country for college. Alternately starving myself and making myself vomit became my tools for coping with emotions I either could not express or for which I could not find an understanding audience. I am now 38 years old, and I still struggle with these issues.

So, yes, the experience of not belonging and of feeling rejected made me much stronger, but the price of that strength has been steep at times.

I am 53 years old and have struggled my whole life as a result of constantly being uprooted, not just in childhood, but as a married adult as well.

I thank my lucky stars (and thank you Brice!!) that I found the TCK website when looking for something else unrelated on the internet. Finally, somewhere where I could see that my experiences and feelings were being validated and understood.

I now know that what I have felt - and been through my entire life, is not unusual. My feelings of isolation, pain, grief, etc were never ever acknowledged by my family, so it made things a lot, lot worse.

I am definitely stronger because of it, but boy, I still suffer from the consequences of never really belonging anywhere. Today, another incident brought home all the feelings of rejection and pain and then incredibly, I log on to my email and there is this very relevant question from Brice!

Ahhhh, the joy of having someone who really, truly understands. Bless you Brice for helping to relieve the pain for thousands of us around the world who have suffered in silence, in some cases for over half a century. Some of us will be fortunate enough to overcome being uprooted, others will never fully get over it.

Best wishes to everyone who is a TCK. I am sure we are all much more understanding, compassionate human beings for the experience.

Hi everyone,

The pain of not belonging to any place has made me both strong and "weak" in some ways. I am strong because I have learnt to cope with what ordinary peers will consider as hard situation. And weak, because my consideration of others sometimes is taken very much for granted by the same peers.

I am strong because I get joy and satisfaction when I have been able to help some one else in need or depressed, I seem to understand them more, maybe because I know how it is like to be rejected. To have no friends who understand me, to be in a country and milieu of people whose language and culture is unknown to me, yet I am expected to go by that culture.

The triumphant of TCK is the ability to do our best in any circumstances, therefore the pain brings out more strength than weakness, the weakness is there too but really insignificant.

I feel priviledged to have been able to grow up around the world. I was well loved by my parents. They taught us to embrace and value each country in which we lived. My education is worldly and my palate is diverse. My network of family and friends are separated by mountains, and oceans and time zones, yet we remain close and that was before internet and cell phones. Today's technology has only enhanced our communications. Thank God we missed out on the 'woe is me' society and embrace the enjoyment of life.

Born in Switzerland to British parents, raised in Switz., France and USA. The underlying sense of isolation is subtle but always present even though, outwardly, I had and have an active social life, a decent marriage etc. I do have an enhanced ability (radar!) to sense how I need to relate to those around me and my people skills are certainly one of my strengths. This is good, but it does come from an almost reflexive ability to morph depending on the milieu I'm in and leaves me often quite out of touch with what it is that I am actually feeling about a situation. I think this can lead to a subtle sense of depression and an inability to identify and be true to one's own needs. On an other note, I wonder if Obama has been made aware of the TCK concept and if TCKs ( whatever our political leanings) could be a group that he connects with to help with his agenda of uniting people's of the world. What better group for his outreach to contact?

As an individual, I think, my TCK experience has made me much more able in coping, adapting and internalizing conflicts arising from change in environment. I guess this is an important quality, because the world is changing at an ever faster pace - on many levels too: cultural, technological, economical, political... and the TCK experience definitely has taught me to hold my personal integrity in the long run, without running into the danger of losing it during some phase of my life. ("TCK experience" necessarily includes me finding the internet TCK community; without that, my TCK experience would be incomplete and only leave many unsolved basic issues; as Daniela said in the latest interview by ABC radio:"...its a beautiful, beatiful gift - just as long as you have the tools and resources to be able to work with the challenges... then your qualities will flourish.")

For example, having lived in environments spanning an entire greyscale of economic development has taught me to see core values of being human, whilst not having my sight distorted by the artificial value scale of currency. Then again, having lived in different climates allows me to see the merits of cold, hot, cloudy, rainy, snow, etc... I've also experienced political diversity, which I have learned arises from history, experience, dogma and idealism.

The human culture apparently adapts to the environment, and does its best to get the best of life no matter what. This is what being a TCK has taught me: to embrace any solution that brings me to a positive end without being restricted by superficial values(norms).



On the other hand, socially, I think being a TCK has cut me of from the classical understanding of community. It has bread me to be an individual and a lone fighter, and I do well at that... but for some reason, I still believe that life isn't about being alone, but finding your way to connect with other people - and as a global individual that constantly tries to develop on several different levels, I find that PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DO! I just have a tremendous amount of hope, idealism - and I guess a good dose of naivety - that keeps me going. In the end though, I'm still standing alone on the social parquet!

Furthermore, I don't have anyone to look up to, of whom I could say that their degree of individuality corresponds to mine and that I admire their lifestyle on all levels that matter to me.
It is a hope I have for TCKid.com, that we as a community will eventually figure out the Sustainable Third Culture Life Style. Including values, a concrete stance to non-TCKs, and rough guidlines to all phases of life(growing up, integration into society, (long-term?)partnership, raising children, growing old, etc...)
And as of now - I don't have a clear sense of any of this!! I basically live from day to day, not having a realistic, experience-based clue about what my life is supposed to mean in the long run!?!?!
... what a bad way to start a day - loaded with frustration. : (


Thus in conclusion - I voted for "It's complicated", because I'm complicated, and being a TCK has made some issues as clear and bright as sunlight shining through a glass of water, but yet others as muddy and toxic as what flows through the drainpipe of a chemical plant... argh!

Born in Denmark, grew up in Australia. I'm definitely not an Aussie, but neither am I really a Dane. Severe dysfunction in my family may not have affected me so badly had our family not been so isolated (all grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins stayed in Denmark). For me the big issue is not having that wider network of kin to give that sense of belonging..

It use to hurt and I didn't understand why I didn't fit in but as time continued I realized I didn't want to fit in and just wanted to be with those who accepted me as I am. I know now from the tons of moves I made, instinctly which few I'll click with and learned that if they are not around to enjoy my own company.

I still haven't recovered, so it has damaged me.. so right now for me I would say it didn't make me stronger, but maybe that will change in the future..

Both, obviously.

In my opinion I think that not belonging actually helped me a lot. It was really weird feeling "depression" cause I never really looked at it as if it was depression, I would just get sad for no reason, get mad for reason, seriously, just snap out all of a sudden... I just always thought that there was something wrong with me hormonally or mentally. But in the end as I grew older and understood more, it actually made me feel very special and unique, and it made me so much stronger and understanding of others.
Of course depression has it's struggles, it's just how far you let it affect you, in the end I think it helps make you strong and a better person, that's what happend to me at least. (Although it still affects me once in a while still, but I can handle it better now) =)

I think to a certain extent issues of not belonging are commonplace among all people, especially when we are in our teens and early twenties. As a TCK this is generally extended throughout our lives and is heightened by the fact that we truly don't fit one category or belong to A singular group...growing up, I was all too aware of my enviornment and particularly sensitive to rejection, the feeling of not belonging and feelings abandonment. They were things that I experienced first hand and on several occassions. There was no TCK to provide a haven of support and understanding and my kind of "different" was not considerable viable or even important. What was important was fitting in with the standard, which I never quite did. At the same time all of this gave and has given me a heightened sensivity, sensibility and abilty to reach out and connect with other from different backgrounds and cultures more quickly than most of my peers. My mindset is truly international and my ability to adapt to different enviornments is fast. And while I struggled and still struggle with some of these issues, it has also, made me stronger and much more convinced of how important TCKs are in contributing to our society. We are not only redefining how cultural identity is being perceived but forcing people to change their ideas of putting people in specific categories and their approach to that in their daily language. It is a blessing but it is also a struggle and often a very thorny one. TCKid has been such an amazing forum for all TCKs to somehow come together to embrace the "commoness" of our diversity and share our experiences, joys and heartaches in a way that only TCKs can understand.
I am still searching for belonging and may never find it in the more traditional context but I am closer to it in other ways and most of all, I now turly know and feel I am not alone. There are others like me. In terms of rejection, that is never an easy issue and it often feels like it comes with not really being understood, heard or valued for that uniqueness...but this too is changing and we needn't look further than the our political leaders, media and creative fields to recognize it.

For me, before having the tools and the education behind what happens as TCK Kid now, it was very painful and isolating between countries, even living the different dynamics of culture that exist within the US.

However, now knowing the truth and that I am not alone on this journey of belonging and acceptance; for me now it is matter of making my 'acceptance speech' just as President Obama did in his inaugural speech to the nation, accepting how my life has developed, taking responsibility in how it will go forward.

Sometimes the thorn in our side, the pain or longing can equip us to help others in need when a person comes to that place of acceptance. I am not saying the ups and downs of depression will go away for good, but when I focus on how my experience could help make the world a better place, instead of how I can become a carbon copy, maturity and growth has started to take place in my life and my journey of living has begun.

I am moving towards embracing my diversity, looking within my interests, skills, and talents (theology, song writer, art, published author and pastor) of how I can impact within the Church nationwide and globally. All the keys that I have been given, are going to be used, and only I have the power to close those doors.

Thank you all for being advocates (on the air) for us all on our behalf, being the voice that many of us needed and the light so that we can see hope in the future for our individual lives.

Blessings!;-)

At 55, I still struggle with belonging. One of my favorite quotes is: Your strengths overextended become your weaknesses. The benefits of my TCK upbringing are tremendous strengths to who I am, and make me a unique person. I find I am mostly unique in my own mind, others don't get it.
I discovered TCK concepts about 2 years ago. I could never name my issues before this. I never quite felt like I belonged anywhere, but was never certain why. Thanks for all the work you all do for TCK's.... I absolutely belong in this group!

The pain of rejection damaged me when I was younger, however after a while when I became older and more mature, I realized that experiencing rejection made me a stronger person today. It is something that everyone has to deal with and learn from.

Is it better to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all?

Is it better to have tried and be rejected than to never have tried at all?

I think that it can only really break you if you decide to stop right there and let it fester, or give up entirely. On the whole I think we all recover, just some better or faster than others.

But I can say it's an awakening experience. Sometimes we need a slap in the face.

I think it can give some people superpowers, just like in X-Men.

Look at Obama, he's now able unite people of different races, walk on water, and perform other miracles. lol

I think being an underdog and having an unconventional background and name like Barack Hussein Obama can be a blessing sometimes.

I found it was a real struggle until I found I was a TCK and understood what I was going through. I dont know if I would have resolved a lot of my life issues otherwise. Like many I thought there must be something wrong with me that I did not seem to fit in anywhere.