Alone in the Middle of a Crowd

You live in a city of millions, and some days you go the whole day without exchanging a single real word with anyone. The building is full of neighbors you don't even greet. Your phone has hundreds of contacts, and not one who picks up in the middle of the night.

The loneliness of a crowd is different from the loneliness of the desert — it hurts more, because it feels contradictory: how can you feel so alone surrounded by so many people? I know that pain. I know about eating dinner alone, about the message you typed and deleted, too ashamed to seem needy.

I promise to take up those who feel abandoned, even when family or friends fail. To take up is more than comforting from a distance — it's drawing near, putting the right people in your path, at the right time. Until that comes in full, I myself am your company on the quietest nights. You are not as alone as you seem.