God is near
Last October, the world looked on—cheering and crying and laughing with relief and joy—as 33 Chilean miners were plucked one by one from their deep, cavernous prison. For more than 2 months, these men hung on to hope and life a half-mile below ground. The rescue teams preparing for the evacuation had numerous concerns: Would the escape pod function properly?…
a friend in dark places
The Gap, a towering, jagged cliff near Australia’s Sydney Harbor, has the notorious distinction of being the spot where many people have gone to commit suicide. A simple invitation from a kindly stranger (“Why don’t you come and have a cup of tea?”), however, has thwarted numerous attempts. For 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from The…
alone
I saw this quote on a friend’s Facebook page: “It’s not that I feel alone because I have no friends. I have lots of friends. I know that I have people who can hold me and reassure me and talk to me and care for me and think of me. But they can’t be inside my head with me all…
designed for relationship
Human beings are mysteriously designed for relationship. Isolate someone in a room and eventually he or she will become stressed, and confused, and their sleep will be disturbed. The chronically isolated person will become ill more often and have a higher risk of heart disease. In fact, their genes will begin to decay—one researcher likened chronic loneliness to “premature aging.”…
never alone
She remembered the day her dad left. Though only a child, she lay in bed and listened to her mother crying herself to sleep in the other room. At 5 years of age, she determined she would never be the cause of her mom’s tears. Now 14, she shared how she had determined to be happy and carefree in front…
cement sky
My hometown is nestled between emerald cow pastures, meandering roads, and tree-covered foothills. It’s most charming on bright, sunny days, but there aren’t many of those. The Finger Lakes region of New York State has one the highest ratios of cloud cover in America. The locals call it “cement sky.”
Many of us struggle with cement sky in our daily…
people make the place
Every romantic movie filmed in Italy includes a classic shot of the Amalfi Coast, where hairpin turns lead wide-eyed sightseers past lemon groves, vineyards, and whole towns built into the side of a mountain. It’s one of the most beautiful spots on earth. But I spent 3 days there and hated it.
I couldn’t enjoy the sights and sounds because I…
tender talk
Sheryl Crow gets it—at least when it comes to loneliness. Many of her song lyrics express our longing for relationships and the questions that bubble to the surface when we live in isolation for too long. Does anybody want me? Does anybody need me? What will I do if the answer is “no”?
For Hagar, the answer was no, and…
alone in the night
In 1963, Darryl Hill endured scorn. A wide receiver for the University of Maryland football team, Hill was the first black player to break into the racially segregated Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Each week, Hill encountered hostile crowds, with some opposing fans dressed in white Ku Klux Klan robes or holding large dangling nooses. During one game at Wake Forest,…
