We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that’s what I want in life.
It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team.
Yale is full of tiny circles we pull around ourselves. A cappella groups, sports teams, houses, societies, clubs. These tiny groups that make us feel loved and safe and part of something even on our loneliest nights.
But let us get one thing straight: the best years of our lives are not behind us. They’re part of us and they are set for repetition as we grow up. I plan on having parties when I’m 30. I plan on having fun when I’m old.
We have these impossibly high standards and we’ll probably never live up to our perfect fantasies of our future selves. But I feel like that’s okay.
What we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change our minds. We can start over. The notion that it’s too late to do anything is comical. It’s hilarious. We can’t, we MUST not lose this sense of possibility because in the end, it’s all we have.
We’re in this together. Let’s make something happen to this world. –Susanna Halonen
