THINQon : What does home mean to you?

Travel General What does home mean to you?

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Xiaoyu Kay

What does home mean to you?

Latest Post: June 15, 2011 at 6:46 AM

4 followers

Some time ago, I read a book by a Chinese economist who lived in the US for a long time. According to his observation, Americans move their home frequently from one place to another for studies, work, family, or other reasons. It seems easy for Americans to decide to move. As I was reading, I was reminded of some American’s predecessors from the European origin—the Vikings, for example, are people who were always exploring and adventuring on the sea; the voyage of Columbus, too, may be a great representative for the adventurous tradition of Europe (although with political motivations). There is also the American literary and historic tradition of “on the road”. When I lived in China, I met many Westerners who plan to settle down permanently in China. People seem to enjoy the feeling of "on the road" so much that as a non-westerner, I become curious about what does home and parents mean to American people. Is it because in their education personal realization and independence are more emphasized than the attachment to home?

The Chinese has a very different view on a nomadic way of life. They have a deeply rooted emotional attachment to the place where they were born. For many people away from home, the ultimate aim for them is always to come back to the birth place. Sometimes, though, it is out of the sense of responsibility (also deeply rooted in the culture) that one should take care of his parents. If they are not able to fulfill the wish in their lifetime, they ask their relatives to take their ashes back home. The longer time and further a Chinese is away from his home, the more he misses home, although it is quite contradictory to see there are so many Chinese settling down in every corner of the world. Chinese people want stability; they don’t want to “drift” around. In the Chinese’s perception, it seems that a nomadic lifestyle is equal to hardships and unknown dangers, contrary to the safe and comfort home.

Perhaps the difference of two cultures lies in its link to historical and geographical reasons? Historically, the majority of Chinese lived inland and did not have the motivation to explore much of the sea. On the contrary, the Europeans have a history of navigation at least as early as the Trojan War.

Perhaps this distinction is too arbitrary, as even within the concept of “Westerners” there are different cultural traditions. But I am really eager to hear what you feel about home and about its link to your culture.

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Dylan Bohlender, My name is Dylan, but some people call me D-Bo....

June 4, 2011 at 8:38 AM

5 followers

As a 19-year-old Western college student whose first true experience "away from home" just came to a close, hopefully I can give you what you're asking for.

For me, making the first transition away from home was quite difficult - I moved into my university's dormitories this past September, and it was quite the transformational experience. Home had been the only place I'd really ever known, and there was a large degree of comfort I associated with it. When I packed my life up and moved out, suddenly I had to deal with a void in my life that I had frankly been unable to prepare for. I can't say my first term of college was horrendous - it wasn't - but I certainly didn't like it, and the whole time I missed home and looked forward to going back. Fortunately enough, my school's schedule meant that I only stayed there for one 10 week term in the fall, after which I had a 6 week break to return home. When I did, however, things changed. I was home, but at the same time I wasn't. Home, for me, had changed fundamentally - it was no longer the place I'd be spending most of my time, and I knew that my place there was only temporary because I was going to have to go back to school. It was at this point that Western culture began to truly make its mark on me, because I had to come to terms with the fact that home could never be what it used to be (since I was expected to come and go but never again stay for good).

I then went off to my next school term in January, and had a much better experience - I was much, much more involved in activities and organizations on campus, I met many more people than I had met in my first term, and things just felt right for a change. "Home" for me was no longer a fixed place, because I now held the power to put "home" wherever I wanted to. Home became the familiar sights and sounds of campus life; it became the faces and voices of friends.

I think that's where the fundamental difference lies - self-empowerment. The notion that I alone have the power to choose where I go in life is absolutely crucial to my functioning effectively in Western society, simply because the power of the individual is so key to Western philosophy in all of its manifestations. The idea of an everchanging home isn't so much a desire to be nomadic as it is a desire to self-actualize and pursue one's own ends, and my personal desire to be independent and achieve big things necessitated my reinterpretation of the concept of "home." However, I know many other Westerners who are content to stay in one place all their lives, so perhaps their own personal desires don't require them to uproot themselves at all.

I don't think a love for the feeling of being "on the road" drives Westerners to move: I think it's the self-confidence that comes with personal responsibility for directing our own lives however we see fit.

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Michael Gerson

June 4, 2011 at 10:04 AM

9 followers

Ni hao !

Home is where the heart is.

Thanks to the Internet, we can have as many virtual homes as we like...

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ted berryman

June 4, 2011 at 3:15 PM

23 followers

A topic that hits close to home.

Growing up in a region that has subsequently been widely recognized as desirable, with the consequence of its over-development, inherent in free market capitalism, my sense of home has varied from anger through sorrow to humility, maybe the prerequisite of creativity, as I mature.

My home is forever unavailable. Has grown forever unavailable. I am homeless, not literally, but carry the psychological consequences of exile.

Home is where the heart is? I guess so. That is, if we create “heart” from nothing. And exiles must.

I think that an Exile must be especially creative in forming that familiarity that characterizes home place. Accepting the foreign fosters a certain way of seeing life, I suppose, accepting the foreign in that deep sense of home.

Permanent Exiles are tragic. Sooner or later one must begin the creative process of homemaking. Home is in the heart in the sense that every living person must have a sense of place. The person who forms this place consciously and authentically is at home.

Parenthetically, the sense of home is proportionate with the sense of passing time. Without a “home” the world anxiously speeds by. In the truism, “Be here now,” all we have to sense is the here, home, where time is our friend.