第1717期：孤独万岁（“佛老请你喝一杯”第三季投稿选登）

Although human beings are sometimes defined as social animals, I believe loneliness is the regular state of human life.

Usually, we come to the world alone and will die alone. Furthermore, when speaking of loneliness, we refer to a mentally-isolated situation rather than physical contact with society. It is more common that we are not alone, albeit lonely.

One example is when you are stuck at a social gathering in a smelly KTV box at midnight when thinking of going home. But you are too polite to take action, just like all the cowards in the room.

In most cases, I think loneliness is good for your health and your purse. Compared with expensive and unpalatable food with colleagues during weekdays along with wasted precious lunch hour, I prefer eating alone in the secret spot of a nearby park, with less bothering, a better view, and occasional surprise from squirrels, birds, and other small animals.

Even a quick lunch alone in the meeting room (eating in your cubic would be both unhealthy and pathetic) and then being locked in the cubic for serenity would be my prior choice. But occasionally, there comes the necessity of joining others in certain scenarios under peer pressure, like someone’s birthday or your boss demanding attendance, or the weather is simply too hot or too bad for getting around, or tons of workload has declared the occupation of lunchtime.

However, every coin has two sides. Loneliness does strike one badly when there comes the urge to share something valuable, only to find nobody around or nobody cares, like watching one of the most spectacular sunrises in your life on a snow-capped mountain alone. Or when you find something amusing, maybe a meme on the Internet or a marvelous score in a basketball game, but either nobody understands the point, or the one who will understand is not available. That’s the burning loneliness we hate so much.

Confidante is rare to find, just like our dream of being rich and getting out of the eternal loop of work called hell. And as time goes by, inevitably, we will fail to resist the temptation of social proof and become the ones who we loathe most when we are young, just like our parents back in the old days.

But now, better stay imprisoned in our fortress of solitude than be absorbed into the mob and crowd. This is the way.

Viva la solitude.