WHERE IS HOME?

Most sources appear to define "home" as the place where a person lives--in effect, "home" means the same as "house" or other dwelling. Other definitions tend to be more metaphysical. For example, home is said to be the place where a person belongs; or is a place of refuge or rest; or to use the classic definition, "home is where the heart is."

Frankly, however, none of these definitions adequately characterize "home" for me. Perhaps the best definition I have found was in a television documentary a few years ago. The film featured a very old man who was living alone in a modest cottage in Siberia. He had occupied that cottage for much of his life. After his wife had passed away, the family repeatedly begged him to leave the cottage for a warmer climate elsewhere. He refused to move. He said he did not want to leave his home. "Why?", he was asked. He explained, "Home is where the trees know you. This is my home."

My mind has churned for some time over his definition of home--"where the trees know you". I know it is profound, but I still do not fully understand it. However, it suggests something greater than longevity. Rather, it suggests that home is where there is a mutual respect and understanding between humankind and nature is a sphere in which both dwell. Without that, perhaps, there is no home.

I would expand that definition, however. "Home also is where the water knows you." Some dwellings in parts of the world do not have access to reliable sources of safe water. The water does not know them. In other parts of the world, persons waste clean water, or use excessive amounts, or abuse rivers and lakes. The water does not know them. But in some areas, persons use water carefully and conservatively, and respect their rivers and lakes. The water is able to know them.

Does your water know you, or do you simply know the water? Are you at home?