Belonging

Someone told me that she was looking for a place to belong, not a place to live.  It made me think about whether I simply live somewhere, have an address, a shelter, or whether where I live is also a place where I belong?  To belong means to connect, to relate to people around you from within yourself.  It is heartfelt.  A child relates to “home” because the child knows it is loved and loves a parent, has friends in the neighborhood whose lives are important to the child.  If you live alone, you can still belong if you have relationships in the town/city/area in which you live.  The tragedy of poverty is that people are reduced to seeking simply “shelter” with no other relationships that are heartfelt.  Soup kitchens and other helping programs may try to fill in for a lack of relationship in shelters.  The best shelters give this sense of belonging, but it is temporary.  I live in various places but I would not live in these places if I did not feel a sense of belonging.  I never did get my cappuccino, after surgery, from my Boulder friends, so maybe I should call the moving van.