Solitude and Loneliness are Equal (Creative Writing Class Highland Hall 1974)

During the course of one's life, the one thing people fear most is loneliness. Loneliness can come about suddenly or creep upon your slowly. Loneliness is usually a result of solitude. Generally, the awareness of becoming alone happens when a person is almost void of friends. I feel that most people react to being alone by becoming upset since man is a social, loving creature in his own ways. This has been part of the problem in our mental institutions and prisons. The whole idea of teaching a person a lesson by locking him up in solitary confinement could be damaging to the person's inner well-being and even cause insanity. In order to rehabilitate someone, you must reinforce the feeling of being loved and wanted. Otherwise, the isolation can result in feelings of depression and rejection.

To be lonely doesn't necessarily mean being alone in the physical sense. you could be one in a thousand and still feel rejected. This shows how loneliness can sometimes precede solitude.

Man relies on other people not only to escape loneliness and solitude but to express ideas, opinions and personal feelings. If man is deprived of other people in some way or another, he is without communication.