Thanks to psychiatrists and social scientists the idea that loneliness is more destructive than smoking has become current. But doctors do not write on death certificates that someone died of "loneliness." The idea is subjective and merely reflects the nature of the human condition. Is loneliness as destructive as guns or traffic accidents or cancer? To blame loneliness ignores the nature of the human condition. We are born into the world as single individuals. Our bodies function singly. Our brains think singly. We are programmed biologically to find partners and we function within family groupings to support our children. We interact with each other at parties, at school, in the workplace but basically from birth to death we're on our own. Blaming loneliness is like blaming the rain because it made us wet. Loneliness is a state of mind. Literature, music, art all connect us to the richness of the human experience and that connection reinforces our humanity and sense of belonging. Loneliness is a choice not a disease. To those feeling lonely I would say, "be busy" because there's so much out there to read, see and love. The sum total of our reality is the world we live in.