REFLECTIVE ESSAYS: A HAPPY HOME
Outline: Any concept of a happy home is personal and not material – the house, the physical aspect of home, should be decent and pleasing - the head of the family should have an adequate income; the lady of the house should not go out for work - love and harmony are the soul of a happy home.
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| REFLECTIVE ESSAYS: A HAPPY HOME |
There are different ideas of happiness, and corresponding to them, there are different kinds of happy homes. Some associate happy homes with skyscrapers and palatial bungalows, while others believe that happiness can dwell in humble cottages and one-room tenements in cities. Opinions differ on whether articles of luxury and prestige value are essential in a happy home. Any concept of a happy home is bound to be personal and my ideas on the subject are no exception to this truth.
Home in its physical aspect is a house, a structure of walls and a roof situated amidst certain surroundings. Though the physical aspect of a home is not very important, it should be, if possible, decent and pleasing. A fairly spacious and good house is one of the elements that constitute a happy home. Thinking of an ideal home, I conjure up a vision of a house where every adult member of the family has a room of his own, and which is situated either in a quiet suburb of a city or amidst the beauties of nature in a village or small town.
From this it follows that the head of the family living in a happy home - in my opinion, it is not a large family - should have an adequate income. Poverty and happiness do not go hand in hand. To adapt a line from Gray, "chill penury freezes the genial current of the soul”. I have said that the head of the family should have an adequate income. In the happy home of my conception, the lady of the house does not supplement the family income by going out for work. A working wife neglects her primary duty of attending to her husband and children and spreading that atmosphere of sweetness and tenderness which transforms a house into a home. My opinions are I admit very archaic but old is gold it is said and as far as building a perfect and happy home I believe the lady of the house ought to be a house-wife.
Today while we are already into the twenty first century with the cost of living so very high most wives are forced to go out to work owing to circumstantial pressures. Under such conditions, both husband and wife must work hand in hand, share the chores of the house equally among them. To help build a happy home, both the husband and wife ought to be free from ego problems, in fact they should be humble and open to accept each other's ideas and strive towards a common goal together.
Difficult Words: Skyscrapers - very tall buildings. concept - idea, conception. conjure up - call up a picture or vision in one's mind. penury - poverty. genial - happy. perforce - of necessity. bickerings - petty quarrels. archaic - very old-fashioned; no longer used.
