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June 24, 2006
Feeling Alone, Feeling Isolated
From the June 23 Washington Post:
''Americans are far more socially isolated today than they were two decades ago, and a sharply growing number of people say they have no one in whom they can confide, according to a comprehensive new evaluation of the decline of social ties in the United States.''
The article continues with a quote from Lynn Smith-Lovin, a Duke University sociologist who helped conduct the study. Says Smith-Lovin, ''That image of people on roofs after Katrina resonates with me, because those people did not know someone with a car. There really is less of a safety net of close friends and confidants.''
I read this article after coming home from the hospital where I visited a friend who was recovering from an angioplasty procedure earlier in the day. We have known each other for more than 45 years, having started out in the newspaper business as youngsters just out of school. We both have lost many friends during the years but we still have one another and support one another through tough and good times. He has never married and has been very vulnerable to illnesses because of his heart condition and diabetes. I am thankful I have a loving wife who was able to accompany me to visit our old friend and I thought how lucky I am to have her. Sometimes we take one another for granted, but on days like yesterday, when we see how fragile life can be, we gain greater recognition of our love for each other and appreciate one another more dearly.
Like the people cited in the Duke study, we sometimes feel social isolation, particularly as we grow older and have less contact with the people we have known. We strive to do things and put out new roots, but it is not so easy because many other people are struggling so mightily with problems in their own lives and the demands made on their time with work and responsibility.
How do you feel about this issue of social isolation? Do you have a network of friends? How do you reach out to connect with others? What advice do you have so that people don't feel so alone. Please write us.
Posted by billz at June 24, 2006 10:32 AM
