Alone-ness

We are the cure!

It's the irony of our age that as we become more inter-connected, we find ourselves more alone than ever. THIS GUY said it better than I can.

We've all seen the couple at the restaurant looking at their digital devices more than at each other.

Oh, sorry, I have call waiting. Can I call you back? (Just in case this next person is more interesting than you. How else are we supposed to take that?)

Heads down, even as we walk. Earbuds in, so we don't have to interact with someone we don't want to in the elevator, like humans, actually acknowledging each other.

Each of us, watching our own screen, because we can.

Alone, even when we're together.

Radio is the best companion ever created for alone-ness.

Say it out loud so it sinks in: Radio is the best companion ever created for alone-ness.

Think about who is listening. Think about how they are listening, where they are listening.

S/he is listening for companionship, without even being consciously aware of it, for the joy of shared love of that song, for the possibility that your story today - whatever it is - is her story today too.

Isn't that what connection is really about?

Thousands, tens of thousands, of human beings, alone in their cars, alone in their cubicles at work, facing loss and feeling desperate, battling anxiety and uncertainty, hoping someone, somehow, feels what they are feeling so they don't feel so alone.

You up to that challenge?

Because that's what the job used to be, what the job still is, no matter what you're told by your PD, or VP, or CEO to justify inane liners, to justify shutting you up.

Find the empathy - the courage - to know what your listeners are feeling, and feel it with them. Share it with them.

Don't leave them alone.