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All around
the world, there are people who live alone, people who have no family or
friends, no one to talk to, nobody who really cares. Regardless of age,
social position, race or the religion, it is widely believed that absolute
loneliness is probably the only thing one can never get used to live with.
I won’t
analyze the causes that can lead to these extreme situations, they are too
many and too diverse, I’ll only mention that today, in our society, it is
possible to live totally isolated without being necessarily imprisoned in
one’s house. People are free to move and talk, but can’t destroy the
barriers that separate them from the rest of the world.
In order to
end the loneliness of these people, I propose to make a few changes to our
society.
First of all,
every village, city, district or neighborhood should create an online
database where people could submit their profiles including personal
details, personality, preferences, and then find other people that live
near-by, get to know them and then meet in person. These kinds of websites
already exist, but they are not official. This database should be
official, and personal data should be checked for accuracy, people should
register under their real identity, and they should be encouraged to meet,
at least for the first time, in places specifically created for this
purpose. There should be chat rooms and discussion forums, and officials
should moderate all the boards in order to avoid bad language, insults,
threats, etc.
The meeting
places should also have an official status. They might be cafes, small
restaurants, gyms, or clubs, but they should be chosen by officials to
fulfill this special purpose. All the persons that live in the same
neighborhood should form an association and then meet and discuss
strategies in order to find new members. They should also vote in order to
choose representatives for meetings at a higher organizational level like
in a city, county, state, and so forth. Their goal should be to identify
and help all people that live alone and live in isolation. The members of
these associations should participate together in different activities, go
to different events and spectacles, find common hobbies, volunteer or even
organize common trips.
There should
be no barriers between these people, they should consider themselves as
one big family, and therefore they should offer each other support and
advice, communicate in an informal style and should develop warm personal
relationships based on mutual trust and respect. In order to achieve this,
officials should first explain to people this new concept of family, in
order to convince everyone that this is not merely about socializing, but
about changing your life. I need to repeat that these places won’t be for
those who simply want to find new friends, but for those who don’t have a
family, don’t have any friends, those who simply don’t have a normal
social life.
If a group of
members of a certain neighborhood decides to organize itself as a special
family (likely about 2 to 10 people) the authorities should give them a
special legal status and offer them important discounts on public services
as well as the right to move and live together. This new form of family
could forever change the fate of humanity as it could prove that “family
“doesn’t necessary mean blood relatives, but love and respect. Of course,
there should be created a legal frame for this new type of family,
imposing some restrictions and limitations. For example, people who
already have a family won’t be encouraged to take this step, and neither
will those who can’t prove they live alone nor have no close social
contact. Furthermore, if there are children, the decision should be made
in order to protect and defend their rights, by verifying all new
potential members of the family, like in cases of adoption or child
custody.
I believe
this is important because every person deserves a chance to share his or
her life experience with somebody else. A person who can’t give any advice
or offer any support or affection to somebody else is a person who brings
no contribution to humanity.
Our world
needs now the heart and the minds of those who still have something to
give, of those who can help us understand how important love,
communication and trust are.
Ending social
isolation and giving a chance to those who live isolated may
counterbalance the self-destructive tendencies of today’s society
(violence, hate, discrimination, indifference).
Also,
isolation is often the cause of other serious problems like alcoholism,
drug abuse, delinquency, depression, suicide and contributes to the
alienation of the individual. By beginning to end isolation, we can also
hope to begin to end these problems.
In
traditional societies, people used to live together in large communities
and developed close relationships, even though they were not all blood
relatives. Our modern social structure stops people from moving and living
together, unless these changes are justified by marriage. The social
distance between a family and another is nowadays so large that no one can
live with another than his or her own. However, the right to a normal
social life is a natural right and the need of warm relationships is a
psychological need common to all people. Therefore, no society should
refuse any individual the right to be integrated into a family group, and
if these changes were implemented, that would not have to happen anymore.
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