What happened to my tribe?

The word “tribe” has become a fashionable and widely used cliché these days, especially when it comes to politics, religion or simply belonging. As an immigrant, I may wonder where's my own tribe, what has happened to it, and what I should do to salvage what remains of it.

That social entity consisting of my own family, my former schoolmates and work colleagues while I lived in France, is inexorably fading away, getting out my reach and eluding me.

When you get separated from your tribe, your belonging to it becomes increasingly tenuous and more often than not, in spite of your best and more energetic or sustained efforts, it ends up vaporizing, slowly but surely.

This is precisely at that moment that you come to the realization that this concept of tribe wasn't worth much to start with.

This might also tell us that it's about time to let go of another illusion.