The cure for loneliness might be a simple 'hello'

A piece of wisdom I find increasingly valuable was delivered in G major by storyteller and songwriter John Prine. “Hello in There” describes the aching loneliness felt by some of the oldest among us. Prine dolefully reminds us to simply say, “Hello.”

But “staring out the back door screen while listening to the news repeat itself” is not just the purview of those with more decades to reflect upon. Increasingly, loneliness is part of the human condition.

We’ve distanced ourselves from one another. Even in proximity, we seem more focused on our differences and disappointments than the condition of our whole cloth.

We are quick to blame “others” for what we fear or what we deem broken. In the capacity of conflict resolution facilitator, I’ve heard many self-described open-minded