Show Notes
We are living in lonely times, but the human conditions make us wonder, are we alone in our loneliness? And that answer is clear.
Somewhere, someone else is taking off for the unknown, moving to small towns or hitting the road to start a new life. We can understand loneliness when we peer up into the sky or see celebrities doing ordinary things, when we laugh at comedians and still feel sad because we recognize their loneliness.
And we may not be hermit crabs or whales in the ocean or rare birds or lone wolves, but the way animals behave tells us something about loneliness and isolation. There’s solace in discovering we all need a shell and we are allowed to grow out of that shell, or we need to be apart from others like lone wolves.
We can see it in clouds or in comics, read it in words and feel loneliness in our silence, in remembering and in those times when we can’t sleep or want to talk to someone else sitting on a bench.
Those are the lessons in loneliness that come from understanding the way we see ourselves and the world around us as we wrap up with the final episode of this season.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Alone Together
Benches are places in public spaces where people can sit by themselves. They are special because they’re not just a place to sit, they’re spots available to anyone and that availability turns benches into opportunities for connections.
The first multiple blind dates in the world are believed to have taken place in April 1827. The story goes that Thomas Swain, a 52 year old bachelor, had vowed to take the first woman to step ashore the world’s most remote island. Her name was Sarah Jacobs, a widow, and Thomas Swain took her hand as soon as she put her foot on the island. The four other women who had arrived with Sarah Jacobs married the four other bachelors on the island.
We Don’t Talk About Bruno, the number 1 hit song, written by Lin-Manual Miranda for the Disney movie Encanto, is all about a member of the Madrigal family who no one talks about, Bruno.
Sleep is often viewed as something that takes us away from social interactions. We have to give up sleep in order to be social. Sometimes, it’s very tempting to stay home and sleep rather than be with others. But when you think about it, sleep is actually something that connects us to each other. Because without sleep, we lose the motivation to socially interact with others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.