Loneliness.

Do you ever feel lonely?
A question that was simply put and carelessly asked which surprisingly got me off balanced. It was one of those rather plain and obviously rhetorical queries that I really do not have to answer. But when it was posed to me I was surprised that I was not able to answer immediately as was my wont when I am asked with questions such as that. It took me some minutes of reflection before I can actually answer the question with at least some sort of conviction. I was even ashamed of my answer. I realized that every one of us is lonely and that those who say otherwise are lying. Because no matter how satisfied or contented we might have thought ourselves to be, there would always be something missing deep inside. We know in our hearts that we long for something more. Even when we countered by saying that we have our friends, our family, our achievements or even our work to fill the gaps, when we really sit down and think about it, we would know that we are only fooling ourselves. We are all just trying to deny the fact that we are lonely. And whether we accept it or not, we are all liars, saying that we are these or that when we really are otherwise. As discouraging and as bleak our situation seems to be I do not believe that we are beyond hope. On the contrary I rather believe that there is hope but the first step to take in order for that hope to be visible and within reaching range, is our acceptance of the truth that we are indeed lonely.