As Soon As I Get Home: Tangible and Intangible Home- Week 15

I am a few days from being home. A few days from being on my turf, and a few days from being in my Arena. I sit here thinking, and I realize that the privilege of choosing to go home is a privilege that not many people have the choice of just choosing to do. Some people come from places where war is the deterring factor and a barrier to their ability to reunite with their beloved homeland. For centuries when humans have been uprooted from home or have migrated by choice,  people carry home with them through beliefs, customs, language, and tradition. However, what happens when the ability to carry home is taken from you or restricted? What happens when this freedom is challenged. 

In "Who Stole The Dream" the Joilani struggled with their concept of home, and during the most difficult times in their lives they desired to simply return to life as they knew it. In the process, though home rested in their hearts like a bittersweet memory, and they believed that "a Joilani homeland still lived". From the surface this statement could be interpreted as literal, but when observing it under the lens of an intangible concept of home, which is the who which can't be taken. It is the intangible home that is the home to all memories and traditions. It is the adaptable concept of home that is flexible and creates confidential ways to experience home. One of the hardest realities when having to cope with the lost of tangible home with the  concept of intangible home is that during the acceptance of the coping mechanism, one may be subjected to negative experiences that contradict one's values.  Despite this reality, one must remember that home is not only tangible, but it is where the heart is. There are aspects of home that no one can take from you, and though the Joilani experienced a rough plight, if they look deeper inside themselves, they will realize that the true essence of home is with them in every moment because it's within.  This doesn't make up for the unfortunate state of their reality, but it introduces a different perspective.