Freedom From Four Walls

40 years ago, The Beatles asked a simple question… they wanted to know where all the lonely people came from.

My newest theory on this is that, a great many of the lonely people come from hospitals.

As medical professionals, we disregard our own needs so that we can meet our patient’s needs, we ignore our friends and families so that we can save other people’s friends and families. Which means that, at the end of the day – all we really have is ourselves… and nothing in this world can make you feel more alone than that.

400 years ago, another English guy had an opinion about being alone, John Donne. He thought we were never alone – of course, it was fancier when he said it.

"No man is an island, entire unto himself."

Boil down that island talk, and he just meant is all anyone desires is someone to step in, and let us know we’re not alone.

Someone to play with, or run around with…. Or… just hang out with. At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody.



So, this thing where we all keep our distance, and pretend not to care about each other – its usually a load of bull.

We pick and choose who we want to remain close to. And once we’ve chosen those people, we tend to stick close by… no matter how much we hurt them, no matter how much they hurt us.

The people that are still with you at the end of the day – those are the ones worth keeping.

And sometimes: close is too close, but sometimes – that invasion of personal space: it can be exactly what you need.