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Homelessness and Poverty Essays

Decent Essays

A house is simply a structure where one lives, sleeps and eats. A home is a structure accumulated with love, memories, and lessons learned. “Homes have stopped being homes. Now they are real estate.” (Quindlen) These structures are no longer viewed as places of experience and reminiscence, they are given a literal and unemotional purpose. Perhaps the reason as to why nearly one million people are homeless is because they are no longer provided with the pure substance of what a home represents. A home is “everything” , one cannot be a fulfilled individual without one for it offers a sense of self, demonstrates a loving relationship and provides an unfailing feeling of entitlement.

The presence of a home is a direct reflection of the …show more content…

A home is comparable to a diary. One can come home to it and express all the emotions present. A bond is formed amongst a home and an individual because when one has a bad day, they can come home to the familiar essence that comforts their pain. Homes help those accept and receive love. A home is a place of comfort, which is often a characteristic of love. One’s home is where memories are formed. Though a home doesn’t have emotions, it remains a support system that one willingly accepts everyday. Homeless individuals don’t experience this unique love. They are deprived of it. In “On Compassion”, Ascher states “He does not know his part”. The homeless man has never been on the receiving end of love from a home. He has never experienced the embrace of a gift and therefore cannot accept the love and compassion the woman is giving him. “Home is where the heart is” and where there is no home, there is no heart.
Homes help provide consistency and a sense of ownership. “That was the crux of it; not size or location, but pride of ownership. Painted blue.” The size of the home isn’t essential. The simple ability to make a decision in something that is solely yours is fulfilling. It gives one a sense of accomplishment and responsibility knowing they have contributed to something real. “And yet it is precisely those dumb things that make it what it is-a place of certainty, stability predictability, privacy… That is everything.” The home will be there, night after

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