Essay Sample on Extended Definition of Home

Introduction

The need for shelter is in most countries acknowledged as a basic human need. A home encompasses all the ideological constructs tied with a shelter and place of human dwelling. However, the word home is multidimensional and has many meanings. The meanings are derived from compounds of emotions, cognition and other variable distinctions in the course of human life. A home is an ideology constructed by people's feelings in the place where they live. The cultural milieu associated with people of a family or society make up a home for all to share experiences and make memories. However, a home is more than mere taxonomic generalizations. It encompasses shelter, experiences, and culture amidst emotions, material standards and other concepts of decent human living.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Home has six dimensions that exemplify its meaning. The aspects are shelter, privacy, heart, roots, hearth, and abode (Somerville 532). Shelter connotes the protection to people offered by a home. Human beings interact with animals, elements of weather and other humans in the course of life and the interactions may be harmful. For instance, the components of weather can cause diseases such as colds and other element-borne illnesses. Interactions with animals can cause physical harm to humans and death in extreme cases since animals lack the ability to think critically. Interactions with evil people such as bandits, robbers and all other people of ill intent affect the quality of life. A home is thus a place that offers shelter and protection from external forces that may harm life.

For a home to provide shelter, it has to meet the minimum standards for humane housing. Federal statutes in most countries define how homes should be built and the materials licensed for use. A home has to be free of "Category 1 Hazards" to meet housing standards (Home 7). The hazards include excess heat, biocides, excess cold, lead, radiation, harmful fibers, water supply, fire, and ergonomics among others. The standards are set to guide the housing industry in their provision of decent housing where people dwell and build homes. An excellent example of the protection from harmful materials is the banning of asbestos and lead in housing in the recent past. Asbestos was widely used in making roofing panels and gutters. However, the material was a hazard since it caused water contamination. The lead was used in making paints and heavy-duty metal pipes. The heavy metal was banned from housing since it caused lead poisoning in humans. It was replaced with more environmentally friendly elements such as Titanium oxide in paints and steel in pipes.

The other dimension to making a home is privacy. A home is a private residence where the owner has territorial control over materials and all possessions in it (Somerville 532). Despite the extensive civilization in the contemporary society, humans are competitive beings, an attribute that yields many vices. Home offers privacy for one to develop his or her estate without intrusion by people of ill will. For a place to be called a home, its owner must show the right to exclude other people from entering and dwelling it. Privacy yields a territorial sense of security and control over loved ones and other non-living possessions.

The privacy of a home can only be achieved through the use of quality construction materials to enhance the integrity of the building (Home 15). The housing ministry dictates the materials that can be used in various parts of a house. For instance, it identifies the components like the roof, external walls, the floor, internal walls, plumbing, electric wiring, gas and fireplaces, and storage. For a house to be a home, it must meet the quality requirements of the parts above to provide a private and secure residence.

The dimension of home as a heart is in line with the august saying that "home is where the heart is." A home is a place where people associate with one another, share emotions and feelings in line with their established relationships (Somerville 532). This dimension defines a home as a family. People must share a common belief, biological relationships, faith or other strong drivers of human interactions to make up a home. For instance, a place where fights and vices are imminent is not a home. A temporary residence with alienated people from different geographical locations who share nothing in common is not a home. A home should fulfill the psychological need for warmth, association, and comfort. The dimension of heart goes hand in hand with hearth. However, hearth represents the coziness and affability needed by humans. Life can be stressing at times. Every day is laden with innumerable stressors met by people as they attempt to make a living. A home is a place of coziness and comfort where peace is bred and where members seek solace. Therefore, a place where one cannot find solace from sadness and stress is not a home. Home members should be friends and form inveterate bonds unbreakable by anything foreign or native.

The dimension of home as one's roots provides a sense of belonging and identity. The sense is different from emotional security because it pertains to one's identity to the external world while emotional security is a person to himself or herself (Somerville 533). A home provides a person with a position in the cultural web and meaning of linguistics. It offers a person with a spot in the social order of the domesticated world. Home as abode means a place rest and residence. A home is thus the place where a person sleeps and plans for his activities. The abode dimension validates the places where homeless people dwell as their homes. Homeless people often stay in street corners, dumpsites, and other inhuman places. Since they plan their activities and rest in such places, the places are their homes.

A home should have modern services and facilities to provide comfort and relieve social pressures (Home 16). The contemporary world is continuously evolving with each day leading to new inventions bound to make life easier. For a place to be considered a home, it has to acknowledge the developments and be continuously updated to enhance human comfort and the sense of coziness. For instance, property owners are required to update their buildings on a regular basis to ensure repairs and upgrades further the mission of housing to provide abodes and hearth to human beings.

Conclusion

Home in indeed a multidimensional concept. However, all definitions revolve around the provision of security and comfort. The comfort takes many dimensions such as emotional, physical, social and cultural comfort. Home is a place where people interact, share and find happiness to approach life as a unit bounded by adamantine love and respect for one another.

Works Cited

Home, A. Decent. Definition and guidance for implementation. Department for Communities and Local Government, London (2006).

Somerville, Peter. Homelessness and the meaning of home: Rooflessness or rootlessness?. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 16.4 (1992): 529-539.