Monday, April 1, 2013

The Loneliest Number

What is loneliness?

This may seem an odd question, coming from someone who lives alone. But still, I cannot help but offer that most base, unphraseable query: what is loneliness?

Is it the empty, hollow feeling of one who finds themselves inconsequential?

Is it the echo we feel when we see what others have, when we see the way they communicate with their loved ones without offering a single word?

Is it the alienation we feel when lost in a crowd that seems to be comprised entirely of a massive group we cannot find our place in?

All these and more, no doubt. Loneliness is envy. It is strife. It is bitter. It is the most vile spy, capable of slipping in through hordes and stacked walls, blending in with secret nods and invisible codes. The miserable creature that is 'Alone' is able to end the bleakest streak of non-comraderie and join the Lost together with an invisible chain.

We never recognize those that feel lonely until they speak up, shining a spotlight onto their seemingly solitary existence. The very act of admitting the lightest of personal flaws eliminates it.

Why, then, do so many choose to travel on with the gray cloak of singular solidarity? Stubbornness? Pride? Embarrassment? Tongue cut out during the last Inquisition?

Isolation is a common theme throughout literature and humanity. The very first conscious being was alone until they pleaded for a companion. The worst and most effective state of any fictional hero is when they find themselves sans assistance.

Though I am, as previously noted, young and imperfect, I would argue that the best and worst times occur during loneliness. It is far easier to be brave, selfless, and generous when others are looking. It strikes me that the only black and white moments we face exist when the only judge available lives silent in our mental mirror.

Even so, I would admonish anyone within hearing distance to seek out the lonely. Fill their black-and-white existences with gray spectrums. Know that loneliness is the path to wisdom--not the path to happiness.

That's all I have for today. Talk to you tomorrow!

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