Where does one belong?

Do we have a perfect place to be? Is there a town or state or country that feels like home? Some cannot imagine being anywhere but where they are born or where they went to college, or where they landed a job. Others have the opposite reaction. 'I don't belong here. I don't thing I belong anywhere'. That is what he said sitting on the hill looking over the new town. Some times it is hard to get to the place that one belongs. 'I am through with this town, I decided to move and now I have to go.' That is what she said when she sold her life possessions to afford the move. Some sit somewhere between these extremes, in the 'what if' of life. Others in 'I had always dreamed of' land. Why the unrest? Why the object resistance to change on the other hand? What does it mean to belong? Where do we belong?  The perfect place? Well, one could drive ones self to the brink striving for the perfect residence in the perfect town. When have you felt the most at home? What about when you are talking to family and friends? When have they sounded like they truly belong. This journeyman has not found the perfect structure or community that generates peace, belonging and happiness. After all, why are mansions sometimes described as cold and hollow and shacks as warm and cozy when many societies try to tell us the opposite is true? But what about the cliche 'home is where the heart is'? Could it be that where we belong comes from our heart, our soul, ourselves? When one finally sees one self and is content with what they see. An HBO show 'Six feet under' episode had Ruth's sister say that she was content...happy lead to too much expectation. Is anyone truly content with their lives these days? The media streams messages of new and improved items that we must have. You can't really be reaching the American Dream if you are not in a big house with a big car and a big credit card debt because you just purchased the latest big screen, 3-D, blue ray, plasma TV (and the new console to store it in). Is that really the American Dream? Wake up! The dream is alive in the freedom to become our true selves. Pursue the career we want, make enough money to support ourselves and our families and to be able to enjoy our lives. The key being that we belong to no other but ourselves. This leads to a self-esteem that comes from good work that we chose to do. And finally, a contentment that is not based in giving up something but becoming all we dreamed we could be. Where does one belong? One belongs when one is able to see that they are the person they always wanted to be. No town or townhouse will provide it, it must come from within.