Free Verse Response to "Aleutian Sparrow"

They "never thought that who [they] were was so dependant on where [they] were"(Hesse 139).
And, really, who does think that way unless something dramatic in his or her life has made him or her feel that way?
The parallelism was what struck me so much about this statement and made me recognize it as a great quote, initially.
But upon further contemplation of this statement, it really does seem truthful.
I have lived in the same state, same county, same house my entire life and I really connect my being to that location.
I wonder how others who have lived all over the country by this time in their lives feel that home is.
I feel so sorry for people who do not have the connection to one specific place that I do, but do they feel that way?
Even more than for those people, I feel such heartbreak for those in this novel who had that sense of home for so long in their lives and then it was taken from them--twice.
Once, when they had to abandon it.
And again, when they returned to find nothing left.
Their dreams had vanished.