If you want solitude, take the T by yourself to Boston. Trust me, no one will talk with you or look you in the eye. I’m not talking about no-noise silence or about physical solitude, but about silence and solitude within yourself.
Today I got on at Riverside, the start of the line, and took my usual middle, single seat on the left; by the time I got off at Copley, the car was full, standing room only.
Sometimes on the T I read, but today I watched my fellow travelers and talked to myself, trying to get a handle on what solitude is all about.
“Here I am in close proximity to all these individuals and yet I have no idea where they are going, or what they are thinking or feeling. And they don’t know about me, either…Um, I love the solitude I’m experiencing right now, but I wonder if everyone is as satisfied as I am? …Are some of these people lonely? Is being lonely the opposite of loving solitude?
Then I went on: “This is a different kind of solitude than I experience at the cottage, where there are no other human beings and the silence is quiet…Here on the T I am experiencing solitude with others--solitude in community. At the cottage my solitude is more independent and deeper.”
I’ll be returning to the cottage in a few days and I’m sure looking forward to its kind of solitude. But in a few weeks I’ll be ready to get back on the T and take in it’s kind of solitude.
Today I got on at Riverside, the start of the line, and took my usual middle, single seat on the left; by the time I got off at Copley, the car was full, standing room only.
Sometimes on the T I read, but today I watched my fellow travelers and talked to myself, trying to get a handle on what solitude is all about.
“Here I am in close proximity to all these individuals and yet I have no idea where they are going, or what they are thinking or feeling. And they don’t know about me, either…Um, I love the solitude I’m experiencing right now, but I wonder if everyone is as satisfied as I am? …Are some of these people lonely? Is being lonely the opposite of loving solitude?
Then I went on: “This is a different kind of solitude than I experience at the cottage, where there are no other human beings and the silence is quiet…Here on the T I am experiencing solitude with others--solitude in community. At the cottage my solitude is more independent and deeper.”
I’ll be returning to the cottage in a few days and I’m sure looking forward to its kind of solitude. But in a few weeks I’ll be ready to get back on the T and take in it’s kind of solitude.