loneliness

I have been pondering the idea of why people are lonely. It's really funny how you can be surrounded by thousands of people and yet feel like you are the only person in the world. My friend Tim believes that loneliness has little to do with the amount of people you have around you, but rather everything to do with the degree to which you are really and truly known (and I would argue accepted) by others--I could not agree more. I can thankfully say that I haven't known real loneliness thus far in my life. Oh sure, I've had instances of being lonely or something that felt like loneliness, but I have made a disciplined practice of letting people know me, warts and all. That is the reason that I, personally, have not experienced real loneliness. It is not that I am amiable or inherently likable because I do not feel that either of those adjectives describe me. It's not been terribly easy for me to be transparent because there are few people who knowingly enjoy being completely vulnerable with others--I am no exception to that. The rewards, however, have been worth the risk.