Have you ever felt alone…and no not the “one-with-the-universe” thing. Just unadorned alone. To be amongst a group and yet not in the group, to be with people and yet without them, to be surrounded and still feel singled out. It’s a strange feeling to be with everyone in the midst of it and then once the mist fades away and the fog clears it slowly dawns upon you that there’s only one person standing there, who seems different, looks the same as you, makes the same amount of sense as you and the person who you end up talking to more than the rest…….
I love to be alone. Yes I know most of us find that odd, a few of us would maybe even frown upon it but the fact is that I have never found a companion that was as companionable as solitude. Solitude, the word itself has a ring to it. Solitude, isolation, loneliness, seclusion all part of what at times we would need in this pitiless Earth whilst it is said, we try to fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run. Yes it is true that we need others, we need to live and we need to be loved by them. There is no doubt in my mind that without it, we too like an infant left on its own would cease to grow, cease to develop, choose madness and even death. I do not deny that “Man is a social animal” and thus we “need” a society to live in, after all we have read this line ever since it first appeared in our 4th grade books.
It is known that we are born alone, we spend our life alone and we die alone. It is only through love and friendship that we can create an illusion that we are not alone in this great big world. I am sure most of you may not agree with me, maybe even a majority, maybe even all who read it. But I know that reason is not automatic, and those who deny reason cannot be conquered by it, they will be left and not counted. For the day it dawns upon them, they may read it again, may understand it better and may actually agree (in rare cases).
Aloneness is a state of mind. You may be alone with hundreds all around or you may find a camaraderie being with yourself. The amity you share with yourself at the end of it all does go a long way in defining you as an individual. If you can’t stay with yourself how in the world would you ever expect others to be with you!!
Please don’t get this wrong and try to think that being alone is what I want, I am at ease with the crowds and the hustle and bustle which goes along with it. It does give me a true feel of society but I ask of you to just at times sit back and think if time spent on yourself, without inhibitions, without restraints or restrictions, without the worry of an everyday life, without deadlines and schedules to keep, without worrying about insignificant and petite details.
I ask in the end…..why is it that we look stupid if we laugh alone, but that’s usually how we cry.
Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring. But, most of all
Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone, whilst all this happens around it "
---William Alexander
