Post by gracefons on Aug 8, 2011 23:44:57 GMT -5
Ever since I was in fifth grade I've gone to a church camp year-round located on a mountain in Irvine, Kentucky. It is here where I've found God, my best friends, and myself. The scenery on this mountain is beautiful and I feel surrounded by nothing short of the purist and most utopias things that life has to offer. On this mountain I never feel alone. If I'm not laughing or thoroughly enjoying my time with amazing people who have permanently touched my life, I know I'm with God. This mountain allows one to go to the highest perch of a cliff on a hike and watch a completely breathtaking sunrise with the most amazing view in the world and, in only a few miles, be at the center of a cave where you can't even see your hand in front of your face. And God is still there in even a place so deep and dark. There, I am never alone.
However, upon my return home, I never feel more alone in my life. It is my lowest, worst, and least favorite time I've ever experienced. I'm usually at this camp for a week's time, constantly surrounded by the one's I love and the places I love and doing the things I love. When I return home, I want nothing more than to be back up again. I feel empty, alone, and in complete solitude. I know I'm never completely alone because God is always with me. But I can relate to what William Deresiewicz wrote in his article "The End of Solitude" when he mentioned a teenager he knew sending over 3,000 text messages in a month. He said she was never alone for more than 10 minutes at a time, which isn't being alone. I agree that no one is ever completely alone. I am constantly using my phone to keep in touch with the people I've met from my camp. It could be thought that I'm in touch with them around the clock to try and feel the closeness that I feel while at camp.
While solitude can be bad because one individual might never feel happy without the surrounding of people, it is also good because it allows for one to quiet his or her mind and focus on themselves. However, I don't view the end of solitude as a bad thing. It's said that one person can feel more alone in a city or in a room full of people than by themselves in the middle of nowhere. I think it all depends on who you have with you and how well you know yourself. Robert Cecil once said, "Solitude shows us what should be; society shows us what we are." If we could all be, feel, and act as how we do when we are by ourselves rather than the people we are when we are in the company of others, the world would see us in our true form instead of a fakes we tend to present.
However, upon my return home, I never feel more alone in my life. It is my lowest, worst, and least favorite time I've ever experienced. I'm usually at this camp for a week's time, constantly surrounded by the one's I love and the places I love and doing the things I love. When I return home, I want nothing more than to be back up again. I feel empty, alone, and in complete solitude. I know I'm never completely alone because God is always with me. But I can relate to what William Deresiewicz wrote in his article "The End of Solitude" when he mentioned a teenager he knew sending over 3,000 text messages in a month. He said she was never alone for more than 10 minutes at a time, which isn't being alone. I agree that no one is ever completely alone. I am constantly using my phone to keep in touch with the people I've met from my camp. It could be thought that I'm in touch with them around the clock to try and feel the closeness that I feel while at camp.
While solitude can be bad because one individual might never feel happy without the surrounding of people, it is also good because it allows for one to quiet his or her mind and focus on themselves. However, I don't view the end of solitude as a bad thing. It's said that one person can feel more alone in a city or in a room full of people than by themselves in the middle of nowhere. I think it all depends on who you have with you and how well you know yourself. Robert Cecil once said, "Solitude shows us what should be; society shows us what we are." If we could all be, feel, and act as how we do when we are by ourselves rather than the people we are when we are in the company of others, the world would see us in our true form instead of a fakes we tend to present.