What is a Home?

Where did I put my soapbox? I very seldom use it but the time has come. The writing contest spurred something in me that I’ve thought about for years. What is the definition of a home?

I think the realtors have ripped us off. Have you ever seen a sign, “Home for sale”? In truth they are not selling homes, they are selling houses. I put away my 7th grade dictionary, because my pocket phone has definitions. What the realtor is actually selling is a house. “House for sale.” They are selling a structure, they are not selling the family that lives in the structure.

A home is not as easy to define. Google would say it’s the family or household or even the pets. The home is the family, or the group of people living there. The group has something in common. The family would be held together by some common bond. The same would be true of the church as the Bible speaks of it. The church is actually the body of believers. The structure would be the church house. Generally the body of believers have a common faith. I was pleasantly surprised by the maturity shown by the students in the story contest. It is truly a gift to express your ideas on paper.

I’m not sure how we could correct this. Perhaps we need a new word for home, or perhaps realtors should sell houses. The English language is a bit tricky, and l will probably never master it completely. I have heard that there are some words that have six different meanings. When we say old folks home, we generally mean the entire establishment and not just the structure. Perhaps we need more words. The Bible written in Greek, has five different words for what we call love.

Well l must put my soap box away. Does anyone else wake up in the middle of the night thinking about a million things. I am taking an antibiotic four times a day which means I have to wake up in the middle of the night. I still have Webster’s New Collegiate dictionary which I used in 7th grade.

—James Neuhouser