Rugby?

Loneliness seems to be a huge problem these days.
I mean, it's more than just (post) teenage angst when we feel that noone understands us or listens to us. I often feel that I don't have anyone to talk to about my problems, and this gives me the illusion that I am alone. But this is such a common problem! Just flicking to random peoples blogs or having a conversation with someone with a personal emphasis shows that a heck of a lot of us feel this way. It's a big problem.

I was in a lecture in Bibizzle college where we were discussing the decline in church attendance in New Zealand. Everyone was all concerned (and rightfully so - read the powerpoint notes here) and discussing what we could do about it. But it wasn't until Peter Lineham pointed out that attendance at Rugby games, membership to clubs, groups etc was severely dwindling in numbers too that we realised there was a deeper problem.

There is a huge lack of community in our post-modern, rich, western world. I think its from such factors as transport (travelling long distances to wherever takes you out of your local community), technology (the huge range of entertainment available at our fingertips via the internet and ipod etc isolates ourselves from others, and it widens the gap between our own tastes and preferences so that we have less in common with each other), and society's value in independance. We are social animals. We were made to live in community, making use of each others strengths to subsidise for our own weaknesses. We cannot, and should not, live alone.

So just how bad is it?
Well, how many of us know the names of our neighbours?

And thats as far as my mind is going tonight.

Maybe,
Lonely? Be a friend.