What is home? Roberts (2008) described home as "variable and may be the place of birth, place of residence or may be defined by the popular notion 'where the hearts is'. But I think that home is more than just the place of birth, residence or 'where the heart is'. Home is something that we can identify with. It is not just a place, it is OUR place.
Our island has its unique enchantment as one of the most beautiful places to go on vacations, but it is also more than this. In the research I have done, I found a lot of comments of tourists who came to our island and talked about some of the realities of Puerto Rico. Nevertheless, other tourists made pointless comments about our country. Outsiders have their own opinion; their own perspective. As a Puerto Rican and insider of my country, I have another perspective of what I called home. Some of my points match with the statements of the tourists; others not. As an example of the pointless comments, one tourist wrote: "No mountains near the beach. Not Hawaii, but cool for what it is." I think this tourist never went to beaches like Playa Escondida in Fajardo nor Flamenco Beach in Culebra. These beaches are surrounded by mountains and they are such really beautiful. However, Puerto Rico is more than its beaches and the Old San Juan. The center of Puerto Rico is full of history, fauna, flora, and many interesting places to visit not only as an outsider but as an insider too. Instead most of the tourists emphasizes at the perfect beaches, great food and weather, the one that caught my attention was the comment about our unique culture. "Culture...that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." (Tylor, 1871). We identify ourselves with our culture and the language is an important part of it.
Our island is also recognized for its crime, violence and drug problems and a poor economy. It is also important to establish here we have a lot of poverty and many sceneries in which we can easily contrast between the ones who are economically well instead of those who are not. However, these problems are not only from our country. There are many countries that are equal to or worse than us. Therefore, I recommend Puerto Rico as a place not only to visit, but also to live. Puerto Rico is our home. Puerto Rico is MY HOME!
Our island has its unique enchantment as one of the most beautiful places to go on vacations, but it is also more than this. In the research I have done, I found a lot of comments of tourists who came to our island and talked about some of the realities of Puerto Rico. Nevertheless, other tourists made pointless comments about our country. Outsiders have their own opinion; their own perspective. As a Puerto Rican and insider of my country, I have another perspective of what I called home. Some of my points match with the statements of the tourists; others not. As an example of the pointless comments, one tourist wrote: "No mountains near the beach. Not Hawaii, but cool for what it is." I think this tourist never went to beaches like Playa Escondida in Fajardo nor Flamenco Beach in Culebra. These beaches are surrounded by mountains and they are such really beautiful. However, Puerto Rico is more than its beaches and the Old San Juan. The center of Puerto Rico is full of history, fauna, flora, and many interesting places to visit not only as an outsider but as an insider too. Instead most of the tourists emphasizes at the perfect beaches, great food and weather, the one that caught my attention was the comment about our unique culture. "Culture...that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." (Tylor, 1871). We identify ourselves with our culture and the language is an important part of it. Our island is also recognized for its crime, violence and drug problems and a poor economy. It is also important to establish here we have a lot of poverty and many sceneries in which we can easily contrast between the ones who are economically well instead of those who are not. However, these problems are not only from our country. There are many countries that are equal to or worse than us. Therefore, I recommend Puerto Rico as a place not only to visit, but also to live. Puerto Rico is our home. Puerto Rico is MY HOME!
I completely understand why you used the quote by Roberts. "Home is something that we can identify with. It is not just a place, it is OUR place." Being born in Colombia, but feeling Puerto Rican also, has always been a struggle since people define home as place of birth, not that unique place that it's yours. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteNice post! I love how you describe Puerto Rico as your home and how proud you are of it.
ReplyDeleteThanks to both of you for reading my post about Puerto Rico.
ReplyDelete