in european history, there is a broad dividing line between the romans and the germans, going back thousands of years, with the celts lining up in between.

the romans, drawing from the greeks, are a people that believe in order and empire. they believe in a society rooted in law, and in later years they became dominated by an expression of greek philosophy called christianity.

the germans, on the other hand, were anarchists. they believed that rules should be malleable and adjustable, they believed in grassroots democracy and they rejected dominance and empire. 

i'm oversimplifying this because i don't want to write this essay right now, i just want to get the point across - i don't want to be an imperialist italian, i want to be an anarchist german. so, i will align with my mother's heritage rather than my father's.

but, i know i am both - and i know i have ancestry outside of europe, as well.