We're all from somewhere. Our home, our heritage, it shapes us, for better or for worse, and no matter where life takes us, that tether holds; sometimes faint, sometimes like a siren, but always present.

The NFL invites players to celebrate that heritage with flags on the back of their helmets, representing countries where they were born, if other than America, or have ancestors tracing back two generations. They are a reminder that players come from all around the world, with threads of stories that circle the globe. And as the NFL continues to grow its brand in new countries, sharing the sport with the world, it's crucial to remember that with each new country ventured, the world is also sharing itself with us. It's vital we listen.

The Carolina Panthers boast 11 players who display their history with the Heritage Helmet stickers. These are their stories.

"My grandpa was born in—the big area is called Guangzhou, China, and his village was in the Kaiping area district," Tremayne says, mentally working his way through the cities and villages he's been before to recall the names that first defined his family.

"And then my grandma, she grew up in Hiroshima."

As a young teen, Tremayne and his family traveled to Asia, a pilgrimage of sorts, so he could finally experience in person the cultures that shaped his grandparents and, by extension, him, his mom, and his siblings.

"It was really cool to see both of them. Japan was pretty special because I got to see where my grandma's village was in Hiroshima. And we traveled back to the little house in the village where she grew up and saw her friends and some family, so that was special," he shares.

"And then the same as for my grandpa, when we went to China, we went all the way to Guangzhou to his village and got to see his house he grew up in, which was still locked up since his family had all moved on, it was still there."

Back in America, the Tremayne family still finds ways to connect with that vital part of themselves. There's the most common way—"definitely with food," Tremayne laughs, "that's probably the biggest way we keep it alive.

"I think it's pretty cool to have that heritage and especially different heritages, whether it's Japan and growing up and my grandma making Japanese food or with my grandpa and he's making Chinese food so and then my mom makes both so I think it's just the different values, customs, food, it's pretty cool to have that variety in my life."

There are also special holidays and traditions.

"We celebrate things like the Chinese New Year."

And then there's the most recent way the Tremayne family keeps their culture and heritage a part of their everyday lives: Brycen himself, and the flag that is donned on the back of his helmet.

"There are very few of us in the league," he admits, "and it's pretty cool to be able to represent that, and hopefully, in people, younger kids who are the same heritage can see that and know it's possible."

If heritage is not always a direct line, it's also never just one thing or another. It's not just the positive parts of a culture or history you want to keep, and it's never just the sobering lessons and painful memories either. It's an amalgamation of every part of someone's life, where they're from, who raised them, the dreams they had, and the tragedies they might have overcome to achieve them.

Tremayne's grandmother grew up in Hiroshima, an infamous place in its own right, but she wasn't born there.

"My grandma was actually born in the United States," Tremayne starts, "and then during World War II she was in the internment camps. She moved back to Japan right after that until she was like 18-19, and she came back to the US."

So when Brycen Tremayne puts his helmet on each Sunday and prepares to take the field, he hopes there are young kids in those countries that notice the flags, yes, but more than anything, he sports them for his grandparents, the shining example of persevering through one of the darkest times in our country's history so one day their grandchild can achieve the ultimate American dream.

"When they put it on the helmet, I sent a photo to my grandma, and I'm sure she's proud of it. And the same with the Chinese flag when I sent it to my grandpa. He thought it was pretty cool," he says before a proud smile overtakes his face.

"They probably didn't think that their grandkid was going to be in the NFL."