The concept of a home is, of course, one that is shared by everyone on our Earth. What makes one’s own home, however, is very much dependent on personal values and stories. One thing is certain, and that is the feeling where everything comes back to one place – a warm home.
A home for some folks may be their local community. A village elder and a tribesman may find themselves very much involved in their community. Their village represents a collection of shared values and ideas. In this collection lies a place in which all of their productive and leisurely time is spent. Their community becomes something they’ve worked on together to strengthen, to advance, and work every day to further build upon. It is something that everyone around them has worked on. In this case, their home may be their village. Their neighbours make up small elements of their home. Together, they share the same stories and come from the same home.
My view of a home is different. This very well may be because I hold a more introverted perspective in my definition of a home. With a beautiful sunrise always comes a new day. One often filled with great challenges – new relationships, objectives, and goals. In my case, my home represents a physical house. A place that will allow me to escape from the chaos that manifests in my environment.
For me, the sense of fumbling for my house keys in my pocket is very much where I begin to enter my home. It represents the last few moments in the day where I am still exposed to the elements. The elements of a particular day that may be a snowstorm, a cold night or even just a hailstorm of school assignments. Home is entering into a safe place. A place where shutting the doors behind me gives me a feeling of shelter. Home is the feeling of locking out the chaos behind me, separated by just inches of building material. On the other side of the doors to my home, away from all of the chaotic elements, is where I find order. It is where I find my family.
Home to me is a warm place that holds all that is valuable to me – my family and our shared stories. It holds my stories in the form of pictures and art. It is a shelter for us all from the constant waves of disorder that we experience from every single medium. The most valuable element to a home is family – that is, folks who you share with your stories and your experiences. Home is where you can kick your feet up to the crackling fire and rid your mind of the stress that exists in life. After all, it no longer matters, because you are very much safe inside your home.
It is unfortunate that this feeling of a home is often shortlived. With the sunset always comes a new day. It is when you must leave your warm home and face the chaos of the world once again.
Works Cited
Digital image. Prohomemi. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2020.
Ipekseyhan. “The Most Valuable Things in Life, “Family”.” Ipekseyhanpoyrazkarayel. N.p., 29 Oct. 2016. Web. 28 Jan. 2020.
Orlane. “A Warm Home.” Meaning of Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2020.
Hi Navid,
Thank you for your story about home, it is an interesting way to begin by contrasting what you imagine as a sense of home for others; i.e. community, with your sense of home as a harbour or refuge from the chaos of community. Now that you have expressed what ‘home’ means to you, I am curious to know how would you describe ‘homelessness’?
Hi Erika,
That is an interesting question! For me, a home is very much physical. Therefore, to me, to experience homelessness means to have no place to retreat from disorder and chaos — a shelter if you will. To me, perhaps one the most unfortunate thing about experiencing homelessness is not having the ability to retreat away from the disorder that exists in nature.
It means not having a place where one can “reset”.
Hi Navid,
I really enjoyed this story. I feel similarly about my own home sometimes, as a refuge from the stress of school, work, etc. By your definition, do you think that someone might have numerous homes? For instance, feeling a sense of home at a close friend’s apartment or at your grandparent’s home.
I think that will family, home always will inevitably involve a bit of chaos and a bit of conflict. How do you reconcile with your sense of home?
Hi Georgia,
Thanks for your comment! By my definition, someone can certainly have numerous homes. I, too, agree that sometimes home for me might be a close friend’s apartment. Then perhaps, by my very definition, that the close friend, grandparent, or other, are simply extensions of one’s home.
There indeed does exist chaos and conflict within a family home itself. Maybe that would be why we have multiple homes? A friend’s apartment may serve as a home from a home if you will!