Kathy Moon wrote:In conclusion: I disagree that it's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all. You'll have the unhappy memories forever. And while unhappiness in general can't be avoided, that specific misery could be.
First off, I want to apologize for the snippiness the other day. I was stressed for reasons unrelated to the board (including Firefox arbitrarily deleting all of my bookmarks), and unfortunately it carried over.
That being said, I must disagree. While it's natural to want to avoid unhappiness or pain, that doesn't make it healthy or good to do so. Pain is part of what makes us grow as people. It makes us stronger. Sort of like how muscles get stronger because the tears you get from exercising heal up stronger than before. The human mind is like that too, up to a point. People get complacent with the way things are, and if they're too frightened of pain, they never advance even if they're not really happy the way they are. I really, really doubt the people in that article would be turning to inanimate objects for companionship if they weren't incredibly lonely. But it seems like they're too scared to let them go, or risk themselves. Is that good? I personally don't think so. They may tell themselves that they're happy, but that doesn't mean they are. They're just cowards using a security blanket to comfort themselves.
There's also the fact that humans (and many studies have shown this) feel most fulfilled by being needed by others. Doing necessary things for others gives us a rush. So does touch, and smell, and eye contact. You can't get ANY of that from a pillow. Maybe the pillow can't hurt the man, but it also can't LOVE him, or need him, or touch him, or confide in him, or ANY of the other things human beings need to feel fulfilled. Personally, I think that living to avoid pain, avoiding growth in order to avoid the things you're afraid of, isn't really living at all. You might as well be dead.
(Incidentally, although it's a humor website, I think Cracked's list on why the 21st century is making people miserable really hits the mark here:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7- ... rable.html )