The word “shelter” has recently become a topical and widely used term in the global lexicon, particularly within the phrase, “shelter in place.” The urge to shelter in place is a freshly relevant concept for those of us who are used to having the option to leave our homes with the very attainable desire to visit some other place. This radical change of routine and enforced loss of options weighs heavily on the hearts, souls, and minds of most day-to-day people. And by that, I’m referring to people who are accustomed to a lifestyle that requires and allows the migration from a home to somewhere else, whether for business, shopping, recreation, or otherwise. The weight of that adjustment is largely indicative of circumstances that might be considered lavish or lucky to another part of the community. A shelter is not always a home. A place is not always a home. And for many, neither of those are regular or reliable options.

For some, the concept of “shelter in place” might conjure up an abstract or even challenging idea of what it means to be stuck in one’s house: unable to meet friends for lunch, go to your weekly book club, see a movie in theaters, or hug your mother who is 68 and has had respiratory issues for decades. It might more immediately draw attention to the fact that you are unable to go to your workplace and, therein, your source of income, which you need to pay for your “shelter.” 

The phrase “shelter in place” might also evoke bouts of anxiety, depression, or even panic because there’s nowhere in the world you could escape to where the situation is any less dire. To some, to shelter in place means something entirely different, because there is no shelter or place that is reliably available; to shelter might mean building a fire in the woods to keep warm one night and huddling in a covered alleyway or beneath a church’s portal the next. It’s easy to romanticize the idea of camping and getting in touch with nature and finding your way along a path illuminated by fireflies. When you have no other option, though, being stuck in a house starts to sound like a pretty sweet deal.

During this global state of quarantine the confinement and limitation to one’s home is having very real effects on many people’s mental and emotional states. And that’s not something to take lightly. It is also important to remember that before, during, and after this pandemic, there are too many people who live free of that confinement, not because they are rebellious or irresponsible but because they have no shelter and no place of their own.