Homes

After talking about what Home is for people I learned of three distinctive definitions. Firstly is an idea that if one is somewhere with a bed, internet connection, and some device that can use Youtube that place is Home. Another idea is that Home is where your friends and family are. The final idea is that Home is the general area that means the most to you. Each one of these ideas makes it difficult to see any commonalities between the definitions.

In the Youtube and Bed definition it seems to be a most irrational response to the question what truly is a Home. It seems as though all that person really cares about is being absorbed in whatever they watch on Youtube. If all that person needs in a Home is comedic or informational videos about everything under created in formats that everyone uses, than suit themselves. But I believe that Home is more than people that talk at you. Do not get me wrong. I am not above watching Youtube at all. I use it a lot, but if that is all that Home is for someone it is troubling for me. Firstly if Home is contained mostly in your phone or computer something has led to everything else in their Home to lose its meaning. Technology is amazingly great and extremely useful, but if it takes away the meaning of your family, friends, or even the general area of your Home it can only mean that you find that those things mean nothing substantial. Also having a bed is good to have, but plenty of people could have their Home without a bed. In the end the Youtube and Bed definition is really only for people who are either heartless and cruel who do not care about their family or for people to blind to see the meaning of their own words.

The idea that your family and friends make up your sense of Home is a much more stable definition than the Youtube and Bed definition. This sense of Home is a rather common one, and used enough that it could be considered to be a cliche. Regardless of its use it is a very strong definition. People that make you comfortable and relaxed that make you feel that you belong does bring on a sense of familiarity. However this definition of Home falls a little short of how many people might see it in actuality. If Home is made up of the people that you mean something to you than it would seem that if someone and all their people were moved to some far off land it would make that place home. If, for example, I was moved to Mars along with everyone of that make me feel a sense at Home where we were able to live out lives. This would not make Mars my Home, but it would make it my home. I would live on Mars for the rest of my life and call it home, but it would not feel like I belong there. This example points out the flaws in the idea. People help someone feel relaxed or a sense of comfort, but they cannot make them feel as if they are Home.

This brings me to the third definition of Home, which is that Home is the place that means the most to someone. This definition is the one with which I can most agree with. Home is a place where someone can feel as though they belong and can as if they are part of the area. The people typically in someone’s Home seem as though they make up the home because of the interactions that are had with them. However this does not make the Home the people normally in the Home. Also the things that someone does in a Home, like watching Youtube, does not make that activity Home. The Home is the area that makes you feel as though you belong there just by walking within it. People can do what they want or be with who they want in their Homes, but it does not make those things their Home. Home is not a material possession or anything physical, but rather it is the emotions that people feel for the place which they belong in. In the end though Home seems to be different for everyone. Just the fact that there are multiple ideas as to what Home is shows that people see their Homes differently.