Home

As corny as it sounds, home is a feeling, not always a place. Today in class we read an article by a young man who was technically born in Ethiopia but has no memory of the country, since he moved to the United States a few months later. He had no memories of Ethiopia and was not able to speak the language. He never felt Ethiopian or even American; he didn't fit in to the native born American or the American immigrant category in his eyes.
He ended up moving to Brooklyn, as a way to choose his home and choose where he really wanted to make a life for himself. In the end he realized that Brooklyn didn't become his home because it was pretty or a wealthy area or had lots of things to do. Brooklyn became his home because of the feeling it provided him.
When I think of my home, I obviously think of the physical space my house takes up. But it's more than just a house. Being home means being relaxed, being safe. For an introvert like me, it gives me the chance to just chill for a bit before I have to go back into the world. So my home isn't exactly a house, it's more of the safety and security that the house represents. Home is also in other people. When I am having a bad day, it really does help to be with my close friends. They're more like family.
So I think home is about family, too, which is why being with my friends can feel a bit like being at home-I feel calm, I feel happy, I feel relaxed. And, there's my actual blood family, not just my friends that make my house feel like a home. Home is about being welcomed no matter how bad a situation is or how awful you feel.
Which is why I think the author was having such a hard time. He didn't have the memory of Ethiopia, so he wasn't exactly welcomed into the Ethiopian immigrant community. And because he wasn't part of SCWAMP, he wasn't really welcome in America either. Just because he had a house and a family doesn't mean he had a home. He didn't have a shelter or a group of people that made him feel like he belonged. A home is like a network that is full of the things that make us happy. He didn't really have that. When he moved to Brooklyn, he was able to create that feeling for himself.
As a child, he was isolated by trying to be part of a home that just didn't exist. When he got older, he built a community-like with the person who always gave him extra rice or vegetables with his take out. He had a sense of self in Brooklyn. That feeling is what made it feel like a home and is what really makes a home a home at all.