Home

Webster’s New World dictionary gives us the definition of home as “the place where one lives”, and “the place thought of as home. All three of those definitions will be very unique for each person depending on there points of view. My definition of home is a place you love, that is full of people you love and feel comfortable around. Home is a place of familiarity. The quote that best sums up my definition of home is “Home is where the heart is”. That quote can be found to be true very often.

The ideas of home in a physical sense also are unique for most people. Some people’s idea of home in a physical sense is a two-story white and black colonial styled house with a picket fence. While others may remember twenty-story buildings in the middle of the ghetto called “projects”. There are many children who go to orphanages and stay there for years. Whenever orphans become adults there first few years on their own they will have also their own definition of the word home. Even a orphan would know home is a place that is familiar and safe. Whether one’s house is luxurious or poor and barren the feeling of safety and separation from the outside world is what makes it home. A good example of that is the photograph “Image of Hopelessness”. In the photograph a homeless person sleeps on a bench inside of a self-made cardboard structure only big enough to fit inside of while lying down. The homeless person is oblivious to his or hers surroundings on the busy street they are surrounded by because they are separated from the outside world at home.

When one is surrounded by loved ones such as family and friends they normally would feel a sense of home. Familiar faces and personalities usually generate a feeling of safety that is related to home. People usually return home for the holidays and go to wherever their family is currently at, not their families origin. Families get together at times such as weddings and Christmas parties often initiate sharing memories and conversations about old times.