Being proud of your heritage doesn’t require knowing everything about it. Curiosity counts as pride too.

There is a quiet test people apply to themselves: that you have to be fluent, know the history, cook the dishes, before you are allowed to claim where you come from. Nobody holds that standard for anyone else. Most people are partway through learning their own background, including the ones who seem certain, and asking questions about it is itself a form of belonging.

Pick one thing to find out this month and ask the oldest relative who will talk to you. A word, a place name, why the family left, what a holiday was like. Record the answer, badly, on your phone.