Temporary Home

Throughout the year, the central theme of this class has been "home". It is the activity that we did on the first day and have revisited the idea recently to talk about displacement from home. However, the idea of home has been omnipresent throughout the entire year. From our origin stories unit in which we discussed our original home to Macbeth in which Macbeth's goal was to make the throne his home to the Dystopian unit in which society tried to alter its own home in a failed attempt to better it, home has been the foundation for the entire curriculum.

However, the idea of "home" extends far beyond the confines of literature studied in English class. It is a constantly morphing concept that mixes both the physical and metaphysical aspects of our homes that changes for every person. Some have more than one "home", whether they are refugees forced out of their own homes or people going out into the world to find a new home. Home can also include more emotional aspects such as family, and for many people it includes both.

Soon, our class will be going off to college and beyond. So then what will we consider to be home? Alexandria, where many of us grew up? Wherever we end up living? Where our family lives? I imagine that most of us will have more than one home and won't be limited to a singular place. College will be a home, but Alexandria will also be one. However, we will eventually leave college behind, so will it still be a home? Or just a previous, temporary home? After we leave a place, are the emotional connections to that location strong enough to hold the idea of home to that place? I doubt it, so from my point of view, intermediate stops in life just become temporary homes that last for a short time then fade into our past.

But since every small stop along life will only be home for a limited period of time, do any of us have permanent homes? Throughout life, people are constantly changing and evolving into new personalities, so no one place can ever be a constant home. In that case, the entire human race could be considered a diaspora, as we are always moving further away from our birth "home". We will all move away from where we grew up at one point, whether physically to another city or even emotionally to a new state of being within the same geographical location. Therefore, every place we consider to be "home" is only temporary.

This brings me to one of my all-time favorite songs, "Temporary Home" by Carrie Underwood. Now I'm not at all a fan of country music, but this is actually a really good song. However, it is the lyrics that are really outstanding.

In the song, there are three verses, each of which tells a vignette about a person's temporary home. However, it is the final verse that questions the temporality of life:

Old man, hospital bed
The room is filled with people he loves
And he whispers
"Don't cry for me, I'll see you all someday"
He looks up and says
"I can see God's face"

This is my temporary home, it's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passing through
This was just a stop on the way to where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know
This was my temporary home

In these lyrics, Underwood is stating that life entirely is a temporary home and it is not until after we die that any of us can find our true home. I, however, believe that there is no such thing as a permanent home. Humans are always changing, so there is never a point at which we are completely settled.

Anyways, those are just my thoughts on what home in in the grand scheme of life, and I want to leave you with these two questions: Is life a temporary home? Is there ever such thing as a permanent home?