A Note on Loneliness

By Justine Wang on July 4, 2012

Loneliness is viral. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 19.3% of high school students have seriously considered killing themselves, 14.5% have actually made plans, and suicide is the third leading cause of death. Loneliness affects us all.

This past January of 2012, my brother’s friend committed suicide and nobody knew why. I have no idea who she is, but the moment I heard that a high school girl who lives in a fairly wealthy city, for reasons unknown, decided she did not want to exist in the world anymore my heart broke. I wondered whether people who want to end their lives really understand the severity of such a decision; or rather what the forethought was behind the decision.

I wonder if they understand what it means to literally exist no more; to breathe no more; to think no more. I wonder if she thought her life wasn’t significant enough for it to keep going; or was it that she was lonely. Whatever went through her mind, it was enough to make her feel it needed to be over. And nobody knew why!

It’s strange that people can cry over a loss they’ve never really experienced. That they can feel so much grief for a complete stranger without having ever met them. I think tragedies uncover our humanity, which then reveals how incredibly close we are. Revealing how extremely loud our hearts beat—louder than we think. In a way, it’s a beautiful concept that we are tied to one another and that we’re a lot closer than we think; so much so that when one heart stops beating, we all feel the heaviness of that impact.

Incidences like this strongly compel me to convince people that they have that kind of impact. Incidences like this cause me grief because it shows the reality that despite being well-off and living in a wealthy city, we as humans are all still prey to loneliness and inner decay. I want to invest in the process of helping people realize they don’t have to feel lonely and that there are so many people out there who also need this awakening. People need to wake up! Although it may have claimed many lives, we need to understand that loneliness is not inescapable… Loneliness is destructible.