There\u2019s no place like home,\u201d\u009d repeats Dorothy as she taps those famous ruby slippers together. The place to which she so desperately longs to return is Kansas, that little corner of the world she calls home. One might imagine the Depression-era dustbowl of Kansas is no match for the wonders of Oz, but it\u2019s the place she feels rooted, attached and secure.<\/p>\n
In literature and in cinema, there is no shortage of heroes\u2019 journeys that end up back where they started. From Odysseus to Bilbo Baggins to Dorothy, wanderlust eventually turns to homesickness and the pull of the familiar overrides the glories of adventure. But what is it about home that\u2019s such a draw? Dorothy\u2019s repeated attempts to return to Kansas are less about the physical place itself and more about the meaning her attachments there bring to her sense of self. What most people seem to long for and grieve while in exile (even if it\u2019s in the Technicolor land of Oz) are the social connections that friends, family and community bring to their sense of belonging.<\/p>\n
Barna recently conducted research into this \u201csense of place,\u201d\u009d asking Americans where they live, why they choose to live there and what they love most about the place they call home. We found that although Americans often move for different reasons, the most consistent characteristics that make a place worth staying in are relational.<\/p>\n