Living in "the home" reveals a shocking and alarming truth: We are all alone. "The home" has a motto which says that life is better when lived with close friends.
This may be true, but the people I live with in "the home" were rank strangers when I moved here a month ago. I have, indeed, found people I like a lot, but it would be a great exaggeration to call them close friends.We have not shared time and experience. We don't have common goals or interests. We might develop them over time, or that dream may evaporate. We each have skills and talents that help us live in this private vacuum. No matter how many people there are, no matter how intense the activity schedule; no matter how committed the staff, we are still alone.
I see dramatizations about humans living on the Moon or Mars in a highly restricted state. I agree with Robert Frost when he said
"They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars-- on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places"*
"The home" is a desert place capable of imposing intense isolation It will benefit anyone who expects to live in such a place to engage in training for the event. Learning to endure your own company is a skill not learned in polite society.
*Desert Places by Robert Frost
This may be true, but the people I live with in "the home" were rank strangers when I moved here a month ago. I have, indeed, found people I like a lot, but it would be a great exaggeration to call them close friends.We have not shared time and experience. We don't have common goals or interests. We might develop them over time, or that dream may evaporate. We each have skills and talents that help us live in this private vacuum. No matter how many people there are, no matter how intense the activity schedule; no matter how committed the staff, we are still alone.
I see dramatizations about humans living on the Moon or Mars in a highly restricted state. I agree with Robert Frost when he said
"They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars-- on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places"*
"The home" is a desert place capable of imposing intense isolation It will benefit anyone who expects to live in such a place to engage in training for the event. Learning to endure your own company is a skill not learned in polite society.
*Desert Places by Robert Frost
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