Annalyn Banas

A HOUSE THAT WAS NEVER BEEN A HOME

I had a friend once who told me that I am lucky to have a family living in a home, because he doesn’t have one even a simple house.
Does the word house and home are two interchangeable words? A house is a structure built by people. Some are as big as a mansion and others may have just a simple Nipa hut. On the other, a home is the people who live in the house and make it a safe and pleasant place to be. It is where love, affection and care among family members dwell. Quotes such as "Keep the home fires burning and "Home is where the heart is”, is common to all of us. So what these imply to us? You can live in a beautiful home, but if you have no one to love and share it with, then it's just a plain house no matter how fancy it is. Poor or rich, no children or a dozen children, adults have the control to make any place a good home.
Unluckily, some people only live in their house, they may have a family, but reality, children see their dad a minute because dad has to work overtime every day, mom who is doing charity work and other organization party and their brother and sister who is also hanging out with their friends. And what would happen to these children if they too will have their own family in the future? Too bad, these children will also do the same, if they too will have a family, still living in a house. And worse case of all, these children see often their parents quarrelling over some petty things such as who will attend the parent-child meeting at school, who will fetch junior at the school and who got to pay junior’s school fees.

These simple problems starting at the house are the cause why these children often chose to stay on the streets, look for new friends and later on these children are easily tempted to take drugs, do petty crimes, engage in premarital sex and above all a burden to the society. Why? Because these children never had a proper guidance from their parents or even given the idea that what they are doing is wrong. These children may have a good future if they have a proper foundation, a foundation that would have started at home. My friend today, is nowhere to be found, the last I heard about him their family move away after his father killed their neighbors. And I fear most is, what will happen to him now? He only wished that he would have a happy family living in a simple home. A simple wish that was never granted to him, because all of his life he is living in a place that he can’t even call a house and a house that was never been a home to him.