Comfort

So a lot of what I've been thinking about here has been how separate each person is from one another, how we really are each in our own unrelated universes. But the thing is this: while we are all so separate, we always have an inevitable relationship with each person we pass on the street, simply because we are humans. I feel some kind of connection with each person I encounter simply because of this: he or she is a thinking, feeling, living being--someone who eats and laughs and falls in love, who dreams and yawns and understands--and so do I. Of course there are things that separate us, things that make us different, but those qualities--the ones that mean human--we share those. And everything comes back to that--comes back to the things that are just there, the things we can't control or comprehend, the things that maybe we are a little afraid of, and everyone else is a little afraid of too. We are all just trying to make it through today.

It's comforting to think about--the idea that every person on this Earth is enduring basically the same struggles, has basically the same happinesses--that in that sense, we all understand each other. There's not much that's more powerful than the human touch--someone else's fingertips on your shoulder, their arms wrapped around you. It's strong. But sometimes it doesn't even have to be that--sometimes it's enough just to know that other people exist.

This is what I like about cities, and why I want to live in one: it's the perfect place to be alone without really being alone. I like being alone a lot of the time, but not in solitude. A good bit of the time, I don't want to touch people or talk to people or anything--but I hate feeling like I'm absolutely by myself. That's frightening to me. Total loneliness, isolation. The perfect comfort for me is being alone-but-not-really. It's enough--plenty--just to realize that other people are there, without actually having to interact with them. Strangers will never disappoint you, and they're all the same, and there are times, I guess, where everyone wants to be just another stranger--nothing more and nothing less.