Home as Place

In his amazing book The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, Thomas Moore writes: "The emotional sicknesses associated with modern life show that the spirit of home has been violated. Aimlessness, boredom, and irresponsibility are common problems, and they may be traced back to a loss of home. All signs indicate that our society is suffering from a profound homesickness."

Like Moore, I believe that one of our primary drives as humans is to "find home," and the way we find home is to put the mark of individuality on a place, to make it ours. When we live in a suburbanized world where the houses are the same, we eat in chain restaurants, we drive a car like our neighbor's, it's difficult to feel at "home" because there is little individuality there, no sense of a place where we've put our stamp.

When I go to a place where people there have made it unique and a reflection of themselves through their attention and creativity, it is a place I like to be because it makes me feel at Home. Driving through a suburb, where the grass is manicured, the houses are identically tidy, and the cars are parked just so in the driveway, gives me an odd sense of loneliness.