Mcclay's Essay Why Place Matters

In the essay “Why Place Matters” Wilfred McClay and Ted McAllister argue that the loss of one's connection to a physical place results in the loss of individuality and one's public virtues. They fear that the importance of “place” seems to be fading and is now currently being replaced with a world that is deemed ‘placeless’ and thrives only on technology. They claim that place is an essential part for one to have a set of memories that build up a self identity. This self identity allows for a sense of responsibility that one has for their own community. They believe one cannot be apart of society without being a part of a place within that society. Place is needed to stabilize and orient us as families, community members and citizens. I agree with McClay and McAllister that the connections to a physical place are important. If we no longer hold importance to place then we will no longer have a sense of identity as members of a community. Place plays a necessary role in building the basis for people to find individual identity. A place that one identifies as “home” serves as “an anchor for our memories”(Solnit 139). It is these memories that develope a sense of self. Moving away from home in the summer of 2015 for a …show more content…
As place slowly disappears so does one's ability to have self identity and public virtues. People fail to understand how having a place to call ‘home’ plays an essential part in their everyday lives. It allows the for the construction of a set of critical memories that lay the grounds for a certain internal foundation. It is this foundation that makes up one's identity, and it is this self awareness that allows for a connection and responsibility towards an individual's community. Having a place only proves to be beneficial to human life and if it ceases to exist we are faced with certain risks that undoubtedly take away these