Alone or lonely?

We all depend on others, however reluctant we may be to admit it.

What if you were the only person left alive in the world? Would you survive?

Who would generate your electricity, purify your water, supply you with gas for cooking, stock the supermarket with fresh produce, and be on hand to provide health care? There would be no television or computers; no telephones; no shops; no banks; no businesses; no crime; no wars; no other people.

Would it matter then if you had no money and no job? Would it matter then if you had loads of money, a huge mansion of a house and the fanciest, newest car?

Only then would you be truly alone. And lonely.

But in our ordinary humdrum existence, no one need - or indeed can - ever be completely alone and self sufficient, yet everyone experiences loneliness at some time.

Do you know someone who is lonely?