Lent Photo a Day: Place

I’ve never been a big fan of the musical Pippin, but I do love one of the most well-known songs from it, “Corner of the Sky,” which is sung by the title character when he first appears in the show. Pippin is a young prince, destined to become king, who is struggling to find his place in the world. Not only does the song have a lovely, memorable melody, it also has beautiful, haunting, and somewhat sad lyrics: “Everything has its season, everything has its time. Show me a reason and I’ll soon show you a rhyme. Cats fit on the windowsill, children fit in the snow – why do I feel I don’t fit in anywhere I go?” Another verse includes the poignant line, “And don’t you see I want my life to be something more than long?” The final line of the refrain, repeated multiple times throughout the song, and the line with which the song ends, pleads, “I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free – got to find my corner of the sky.” Pippin spends the rest of the show searching for his place in the world, his “corner of the sky.”

Part of being human, I believe, is a longing to fit in, a deep-seated desire to find a “place” of one’s own. This place is not necessarily a physical location, but it is rather a role within society, within a family, within a group of peers. It may simply be a sense of contributing to the general good of humanity or the welfare of society. The need to find a place may be satisfied by holding a respected job, by having a happy marriage and raising children, by charitable or philanthropic work, or by any of a multitude of factors that can make us feel like we’ve found our place.

And of course, our “place” may change over the course of time. As youngsters, making the varsity track team or being part of the drama club may fulfill the need for a place, working for a high-tech company or a well-known law firm may be our place later in life, leading a child’s scout troop or tutoring in the local school system may become our place once we’re more established as adults, and during our retirement years, our place may be found by volunteer work. No-one has just one single “place” throughout their lives.

So what is my place, right now? I have a place as a wife, a mother, a writer, a singer, an actor. I fit in at church, in my various theatrical groups, on the boards of several organizations which I serve, in my neighborhood, in my circle of friends. I am blessed to have more than one “place” that I can call my own. I guess you could say that my sky has lots of corners, and in every one of them, I have a place.

Place.

Lent Photo a Day: Place

“Place” is a pretty generic word, as words go. It means, simply, a location. A spot. A well-defined set of geographic coordinates. SomePLACE. AnyPLACE.

But if you add a possessive in front of it – your place, my place, his place, our place – it suddenly takes on a much different meaning, a meaning laden with values and implications and layers. To “put someone in his place” means to knock him down a peg. To deflate his ego. To humble him. To remind him that he’s not nearly as important as he thinks he is. Keeping someone “in his place” implies that person’s inferiority. “His place,” in this context, is a place of humility, subservience, frustration, and lowliness.

But adding a possessive to the word “place” can also imply exactly the opposite: To “find your place in the world” means to come into your own, to discover where you fit into the greater scheme of things, to reach your potential. It implies success, accomplishment, belonging, completion.

There’s yet another positive implication to some possessive uses of the word “place”: when “my place” refers to your home. “Come on over to my place.” “Welcome to my place.” “Check out my place!” The implications here are a sense of personal pride, a degree of territorialism, a sense of possessiveness in its most positive form. “My place” implies hospitality, welcome, comfort, and graciousness.

The hallmarks of my own personal “place” involve hospitality and comfort. My place is full of comfortable chairs, candlelight, flowers, classical music, good food and drink, and the laughter (and often the mess) of children. My place is often full of friends. It is always full of the love of family. My place is a haven from sorrow and a venue of joy. My place is full of memories. My place is full of potential. My place is full of cheerfulness. My place is full.

Place.