Where Is Your Home?

            The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns where we consider our home. My husband and I moved to Alaska more than 46 years ago. It is where we reared our family and where we own property. We enjoy the Alaskan way of life. I consider it my home or where I live; however, I think of the community where I was reared when I think of home.


            Angela Sailor posted an article at The Daily Signal that asked an important question:  

 “Do you consider America to be your home, or just the place you happen to live?” This is a question that popped into her mind as she was listening to Luther Vandross’ “A House Is Not a Home,” and she asked herself, “Do I consider America to be my home, or just my house?” She realized that she considers America to be her home because of the teachings of her grandmother.

When I reflect on America’s history, I also think about my family and the legacy of my forefathers and foremothers. Grandma Irene, fully decorated with a third-grade formal education and a Ph.D. in homemaking and rainmaking from the school of wisdom, intentionally pounded history into our household discussions.

            I like her description of how her grandmother taught the history of her people and her nation to her posterity – “intentionally pounded history into our household discussions.” What did Grandma Irene pound into the heads and hearts of her family members? She gave them roots as well as wings when she spoke of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Booker T. Washington and told of “their different roles and approaches to liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness.” She spoke of “Crispus Attucks, the first American to die in the Revolutionary War; Benjamin Banneker, the architectural genius who designed our nation’s capital; and Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, the first person to successfully perform open-heart surgery.”


            Sailor’s article made me wonder how much history I “intentionally pounded” into the heads and hearts of my children.” Would it have made a difference in their lives if I had been persuasive in teaching them?


            Another thought that keeps popping up in my mind is how we treat our home as compared to just a place to live. Thousands, probably millions, of people live in rental property. As I think back to the days when my husband and I were renting apartments and houses, I realize that my attitude about those abodes was different than when we purchased our first home and then built our second one. We did our best to take care of the property that we rented, but our hearts go into taking care of our home. 

Most people are a little surprised at the costs associated with owning property. When there is a plumbing problem, it is nice to be able to call the landlord and let him take care of it. It is a different story completely when one owns the property and must handle the problem. 

This understanding got me to thinking about people who live in our nation. Those who consider America their home are willing to work to keep it clean and in good repair. Those who consider it just a place to live do not care about how it looks – just if their personal needs are met. If we really consider America to be our home, we need to be alert to the dangers that may affect it. 

America became a superpower for many reasons, but the main reason is because its citizens are free. Freedom is a wonderful thing that we must not take for granted, or we will lose it. We must fight to protect our freedoms from the encroachment of socialism and other evils that seek to destroy. If we consider America to be our home, we must do the necessary work and spend the required money to keep her shining and new – like a shining city built on a hill.