A Ramble on the Subject of Loneliness

            There are a lot of things I absolutely do not understand about humans. And one of those things, as a fellow human observing you all, is the deadly connotation of the word "alone" in so many of our hearts. So many people are afraid of being with themselves, and I find this a tragedy. Sure, learning to be with other people is a good thing, a necessary thing. But why is the thought of being alone so horrifying to so many?
           People are always moving, shifting constantly. Their lives are their own individual maps, charting out priorities and beliefs, all seen with that peculiar slant each person has. One day, somebody will decide there isn't room for you on their little map. I'm sure it's happened to you before. People change, and people leave. Which is why we must learn to love and understand ourselves FIRST, before chaining our soul to the friends we think we have.
         How can people say being lonely is so awful? How can anybody say my life is empty when I have my trees, firmly rooted into the ground and always there to greet me? When I have the ever-changing sky to love in all of it's moods? When I have the moon above me, gracefully changing phases like a lady slipping into different gowns? This world is a lovely place to be alive and to find yourself. And I promise that you can be found, perhaps in the heart of a sweetly budding rose or the calm quiet of a lake. There is a smiling Heavenly Father above who waits for you to make these discoveries, and to realize that you must put Him before any other person in your life. Because people have never been constants. They change, and you change, and that's part of life.
        The lesson I have learned is to treasure sweet memories you have with people, keep them close to your heart, and remember those times when you truly connected with another human. Because so often, those memories are all that we have. You never know when someone is going to leave your life, and so you keep the memories, and the old sweet love in your heart, and you gently let them go.
        Loneliness is an art that takes some getting used to. But when you have learned that art, being comfortable in your own skin, with your own tender sorrows and exquisite joys, then you have learned what it is to be happy, I truly believe.