Is There Anybody Out There?

I have read a number of articles about loneliness recently. I notice that the media will latch on to a certain theme and suddenly it pops up everywhere - telly and radio. Anyway, last weekend it was loneliness - with a slightly different spin you might wonder? What could be so very newsworthy, hasn't loneliness always been a human 'thing'?

Well apparently I read that in this day and age because we are all so very work oriented and focussed on the daily grind, we don't have time for one another, leisure and pleasure time. And because we communicate electronically, we seem to think that this will suffice our human need to connect. And in order to chase employment we often have to move away from our roots; family and friends. There are also a number of friendships that break down due to the increasing divorce levels that cause social allegiences to go awry. And of course there is the recession and the rise in unemployment coupled with our diminishing pensions which means that we have less disposable income for going out and entertaining even if we wanted to. Oh and I nearly forgot about the number of people who simply become too depressed to want to socialise in any respect.

So is all of this new and newsworthy? Is loneliness really on the increase or has it always been a part of the human condition that most of us have to face at some time or another? There must be something in the air for the media to make it the fad of the mnoment.

Perhaps for football fans the big international game will bring a little camaraderie back into our lives. And another observation - when we are involved in something or other, even an emergency or catastrophe, we seem to evolve as human beings, relate and show compassion and empathy, which we soon forget for some reason when we are living less eventful lives.

And the articles inform us that being alone does not equate with loneliness, well we are not morons. Most would know this to be the case.

Perhaps the odd smile here and there might not go amiss. We often pass the time of day on public transport, queuing in shops, waiting at the photocopier, sitting in the canteen, why not occasionally take a leap of faith and try being friendly, have a natter to break the quiet. This might help cushion the insular feelings that can so often cause so much sadness and make us question if we are being shunned and whether we conduct ourselves appropriately or not. In 99 percent of cases it is more to do with society in general going wrong, and at this moment we are going through the most dreadful slump. Each individual however makes up the mass and so we only have ourselves to blame, and only we can each do something to change things for the better.