| There is, then,
a small and unique group of lonely people whose problems of lone- liness are very
different in nature from those described so far. These are serious -minded,
well-educated not necessarily in the formal academic sense and truly
thoughtful people. They are lonely not for Personal reasons; they are lonely not
because of self-centeredness. Rather, they are lonely because of others. They are lonely because they are sorry for the countless millions
whose lives are empty but who are utterly unaware of that. They are lonely because
there are so few of them. They are lonely because they are alien to so many crowds and
multitudes. And they are lonely because they are so helpless to help those who are in
urgent need of help, but who desire no help at all. Yet these uniquely lonely people are
not fearfully pessimistic but sincerely optimis- tic, not by what they see and observe,
but by the faith in their hearts which assures them the eventual triumph of good over
evil, of knowledge over ignorance, and of love over hatred. |
