Read at least 3 students blog short stories about ‘home’ and make a list of the common shared assumptions, values and stories that you find. Post this list on your blog with some commentary about what you discovered.

This week has given me the pleasure of reading so many of my classmates’ stories of finding home, overcoming hardship, and achieving a sense of belonging. It takes an enormous amount of courage to be upfront and strip bare in order to tell these stories to the world, and I thank you for sharing some of the most insightful thoughts I’ve ever come across. Here are three predominant themes I’ve noticed when it comes to the idea of “home”:

1. Home is not defined by a geographical location. Initially, I perceived home as a feeling directly influenced by extrinsic attributes of a destination. Upon reading other classmates’ stories, however, I realized that home is actually a state of mind, like how Alanna puts it. To have a place we call home is simply a choice we choose to make, and to make the most of, even in undesirable situations. We push ourselves to learn and grow from the challenges we are born into, and in return, we strengthen our skills of adaptability and use it to our advantage. And through that, the most important thing we retain from understanding that home is all in the mind, is that we become resilient in times of adversity.
2. Home is a collection of memories and feelings with the people we love most. I think it goes without saying that a home without the people we love and care for (and vice versa) is just another place no different or special than any other. Lorraine talked about filial piety and asked a heartfelt question: “when my family is gone then where is my home?” (Shen). This really struck a chord, because all my life I’ve only lived with my mother, and that’s the only life I’ve come to know. We not only support each other but also heavily depend on one another. My mother is the only person who gave me the memories of growing up, the sole provider of unconditional security and reassurance, the one and only soul most determined to give me a safe sense of home. There is no denying that family and home have an unbreakable bond, and to know that one day I’d have to live without my mother’s physical presence is a daunting thought to imagine.
3. A sense of home starts from within. Home is a sacred place with stories unique to ourselves, and we live our own stories through time. Time tells us how we’ve evolved through our own set of experiences that give us memories, and ultimately how we’ve used these experiences to achieve our sense of belonging. In Janine’s story about self-discovery and her painful road to finding inclusion, she says “I feel at home when I feel belonging and acceptance; when I feel that my stories are heard and respected; when I feel a sense of inclusion” (Fleming). Our sense of home begins when we recognize our self-worth, when we remember that we are loved, when we exercise our freedom to be whoever we choose to be, and know that no one can ever take that power away from us.

Works Cited

Fleming, Janine. “A “Clueyness” About Exclusion (2.2).” 6 Jun 2016. Web. 15 Jun 2016.

Joy, Alanna. “Assignment 2.2.” 7 Jun 2016. Web. 15 Jun 2016.

Shen, Lorraine. “2.2 Home.” 6 Jun 2016. Web. 15 Jun 2016.

Tattrie Rushton, Heidi. Adapting for furry family members. 16 Jun 2015. Web. 15 Jun 2016.