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| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
We're all homeless, in my definition. What exactly is yours? |
Good question, and I'm still trying to figure it out.
I used to think home was about a place I could pinpoint on a map - maybe it still is. I eat, sleep and shit right there. That's my home. But I had my own apartment a year ago, and I felt more homeless than I do now without it. All the things I once thought I needed to have a home are long gone. I live quite minimally out of my backpack and have for the last year. Are physical comfort and financial security necessary to feel at home? And what does that mean to the individual? I don't own the beds I've slept in - the dozens upon dozens over the last 12 months - but I'm sheltered with a roof over my head. My freelance career provides me the money I need to eat well and sleep in relative peace, but I don't have health insurance or a 401K plan. I have three passports; surely I should feel at home somewhere because of that, shouldn't I? I never have, and still don't. I don't mean to sound cliche, but for me, home is in the heart. It resembles a content - not exactly the word I'm looking for here - state of my mind, as opposed to constantly feeling restless because you don't feel like you're in the right place. I don't mean physically, either, although one's location could play a part in that unsettled feeling. I don't have a home in the traditional sense, anymore. When people ask me where I live, I tell them wherever I'm at at that time. But that's not what I call home, either. Home is how I feel.
Do the homeless feel without a home, or feel at home everywhere?
Home is a matter of perspective in your individual situation, I say. What might feel like home to some might feel like homelessness to others and vice versa.
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