The search for (and meanings of) home

Panama City, Panama

Travelers, perhaps even these photographed in Panama on Christmas Day 2008, can sometimes be found pondering the meaning of “home”. They may do so in a hostel lobby in Paris, from a park bench in Cartagena, on a rumbling train in Siberia, or atop a seawall in Panama City. Whatever the location, the act of pondering “home” while away from “home” provides a unique perspective.

Gone are the days when I primarily thought of home as a physical structure, or as a place within national borders. In its place has emerged the idea of home as gift—something too large to be constrained by borders, too spiritual to be only physical, and too untamed for one to claim to own as he might a piece of property. Travel has convinced me that home is not found behind a closed door. Instead, it is found to the degree that we go out from closed doors and encounter our neighbors. So go some of my thoughts on the topic.

I have yet to tire of hearing travelers talk about home, since the topic deals with the deep roots of who we are, and because what others say enriches and challenges my own perspective. Many travelers, such as Solbeam, have written eloquently on the topic. Even Time Asia, in its August 18, 2003 issue, jumped headlong into “home” in a beautiful collection of articles by individuals as diverse as Peter Hessler, author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, and Hamad Karzai, President of Afghanistan. Truly this issue of Time is a keeper—check it out!