'Home is hardly where the heart is'

03/23/11
What does the term 'home' mean to you ?  Is it a house, a condo, an R.V., a log cabin ( midst the pines ), an apartment, or a piece of tarp hastily lashed with rope to nearby trees ?  Or, does the abstraction of 'home' extend to a couple of shopping carts full of collected dreck, doggedly dragged along the roadside, with newspapers and plastic bags to ward off inclement weather ?
Far distant memories of the fundamental nature of 'home' revealed that the modern home as we know it gathered impetus shortly after WWII, with scores of G.I.'s returning--at last--to their parent's home, though, such compact living arrangements seemed poor payment for four, long years of combat.
Suddenly, nearly every service person wanted a scrap of land to call his own, and an home to put on it; a quiet refuge for newlyweds, and a place to have children, one car, and a dog.
This was their interpretation of the Constitution's mandate of, 'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness; nothing less, really, than a completely justifiable flight from the horrors of war.
Various government programs made housing and education well within the reach of these returning Veterans.  All to fuel and provide a deep yearning which demanded answers.
For the next ten years or so, 'slipper' communities such as the famous Levittown(s), sprang from the soil as if from sown dragon's teeth.
Whenever there is a need, and available housing was but one, and a great need it was, too, the Military and Industrial machines were more than happy to retool from a war economy to a peacetime one.
These--mostly young--returning Veterans wanted everything at once, and it was given to them at once, which--for industry--made for enormous profits.
In photographs taken of the period, the homes were like little doll houses: two bedrooms, one bath, and a carport or a garage. I once read that in these little houses, the flushing of the toilet could be heard 'all over the house'.
But, many featured hardwood floors, over a grid of piped in hot water, which kept the homes cozy and warm.
'Had to have necessities' included new cars ( whose style had remained unchanged during the war years, from 1939-1945), modern furniture, appliances to an extent unimaginable.
These young men and women had had four+ years of war, during which to think and mold a new, 'American Dream', also--by default--launching the new installment payment plan.
Photographs of the time not only show proud mommy with proud baby, but often included the entire front of the house, making the home a more than integral part of the new family; further, should you care to notice, while many of these tract homes had garages, you find the family car parked in the driveway, so that the viewer could not miss it; it was never meant to be missed; even when the photographs taken reduced the human subjects so they were often unrecognizable, the point--however--was clear: these men, weary of war, were--like their ancestors before them--valiantly striking out to make a new and better life for themselves, and for their families.
Part II to follow in due time.  All regards,  Charles