My column in Mindanao Daily, BusinessWeek Mindanao and Metro Cagayan de Oro Times
OPINION
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IT'S five o'clock on a Friday afternoon. Maybe you have an ordinary office job. Your office mates are gone for the weekend already earlier. You haven't had a date for years, on family is waiting at home for you. Your best friend has an out-of-town meeting.
Are you lonely? You betcha.
That's one kind of loneliness. The temporary kind that makes you feel a bit uneasy but not totally down. But, there's another kind of loneliness that lurks especially in the lives of today's generation. And it's far more threatening than this Friday afternoon five o'clock one-timer.
It's the painful loneliness that sets in when broken relationships cut you off from people you actually value very much. When you know the former warm spot in your heart will remain cold. It happens many times, when life goes on while death, separation, breakup, or alienation cuts you off from these people who could eliminate your loneliness.
Yes, a variety of things could happen when this kind of loneliness turns a world into an island. We are on the way to isolationism, figuring that if we can't find someone significant to share life with, we might as well wrap ourselves up in pity.
Or how about this? We can turn to God. His presence can take away the loneliness. His care can neutralize our concerns. His love can warm that cold spot in your heart.
What do you think? You're the 'only lonely' on this globe? Talk to God! Listen to Him! Read Psalm 23 ('The Lord is my shepherd') and realize that He is talking to you. Let Him take away your loneliness.
