“THE SILENT WAR BETWEEN A HOUSE AND A HOME”

The very first feeling that comes to mind while reading the word ‘Home’ is warmth and safety. The three basic needs of food, clothing, and a house are fulfilled by most of us, but being at home is only for privileged people. You may live in a house for years without realizing its importance, but when you leave, you feel the void of home in the house you built over years of hard work. 

I was in the sixth standard when I came across a poem titled "A House, A Home." It was the first time I understood the difference between these two words; before this, I used them interchangeably. There are years between knowing the differences between a house and a home to witnessing the differences. 

While staying at home, I kept saying to my mother, 'I want freedom, and I'll only get it when I go away.' Years later, the freedom I was searching for was elusive. It was my misunderstanding of freedom. I underestimated the value of home. Home is something that exists in a moment. Getting older makes us realize that home is now a memory, no longer something tangible we can return to. We got busy making new houses while ignoring the peace we had at home, but it is the very nature of life. It is a repetitive cycle of being at home to becoming a home while going through houses.

Returning to the same house that once felt like home is no longer the same. There are only remnants of home left. The people and their actions that once made you feel at home cannot be replicated, but you can replay those memories in your mind while closing your eyes. You always carry home wherever you go. You cannot sum up home without getting goosebumps. You cannot live in the home forever, so try to become a home for the people you love before they go out and build their own houses and face the silent war between house and home.

~Aamna