One Hundred Years of Solitude

Solitude is an interesting situation. They say that no one is an island, and this is supposed to make us feel...comfort. The knowledge that we are not alone is intended to insight feelings of camaraderie with our fellow man. This knowledge should create feelings of universality and oneness with humanity. So, if this is true what about all that crap about individuality. We are conversely taught from childhood, if nothing else we innately understand, that we are unique and different. Biologically, anyhow, no two people are alike (so to speak). So what's so bad about solitude again? Doesn't solitude just say that simply, "I (we) are different from you." And in cultural terms, you cannot separate the I from the We. We are Americans. I am American. Maybe these terms don't work for our country, since we are so exclusive of one another. But we are unified in our general experiences. I think what Gabo is describing in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, is what many who have experienced "abnormal" circumstances struggle with. How else can you describe the demeanor with which a victim of a devastating situation can speak about it, after the fact, so matter-of-factly to the utter puzzlement of their listener. I have seen this same puzzled look on people's faces, as I have told stories of my childhood. It becomes clear, that what was normal to me...in my world, was abnormal to others. This knowledge is initially devastating, as it stamps me as an other. But it also gives one access to a very different world. One in which only those who have been to can ever understand. And even then, no one can really ever understand any individual case of any similar situation. The honest truth is, that when you feel alone sometimes you need to own that solitude. To know that you're not crazy for falling apart, you are justified for it because what has happened to you is different and new. Their is no standard for how to act because this situation hasn't even been invented yet. Solitude has two faces. When I look in the mirror, I too see solitude, I too want people to understand what brought it about, but I want it to stay b/c it is what makes me unique. I am ever-justified in this way...their is no standard for reactions. There is no particular way of living. Each situation is different and new. I am justified and welcome to fall apart, or not, at any time.

It made sense to me...