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Show I -rrfriMea. from other editors From the Duncannon Record, Duncaunun, Pennsylvania: The re-- re-- curring theme In today's output of art all art is man's loneliness. It has been explained, denned, excused, ex-cused, condoned and condemned every day of the week in print, on the stage, through the air, on canvas, in marble, brass and steel and probably in needle and thread. Most critics explain this obsession obses-sion with loneliness as indicative of the kind of culture we're living in brought about by atomic energy, the shrinking world, man's ever-Increasing ever-Increasing mobility in an ever-decreasing sphere, every psychological psychologi-cal quirk in the book, or tobacco. We don't know why loneliness worries the writers, painters and composers of today, but we wish, since they're going to get prolific about it, they would make a distinction dis-tinction - between loneliness and aloneness. Loneliness, a state of mind, or emotion, is bound to be i portion of every man's experience. Aloneness, Alone-ness, a state of being Is what we are all of the time, John Donne not withstanding. We do not agree with Mr. Donne's Don-ne's "No man is an island unto himself; each is a part of the main . . ." Each of u is an Island. We may be all set in the same sea, and there may be an occasional isthmus between two human beings where perfect communication is at- , talned, but by and large wt stand alone. And that is the way It should be. Man can only fulfill himself and his Individual destiny when he knows himself, and he can only know himself when he can see himself him-self in relation to other men, not as a part of general humanity or the species as a whole In which ho is a little piece, but as A Man a specimen with feelings and convictions con-victions that are singularly his, and with some knowledge that he can control, within recognized limitations, limita-tions, the circumstances undor which he lives. Man is at his finest when he acts with this knowlege. He is a more dedicated person with a greater sense of responsibility when he comes to know that he acts for himself, for no one else, and that no one else acts for him. The man who knows this makes a better citizen, worker, husband or father, and leads a happier, more useful and productive life. He is the one who cooperates to a greater extent with his fellow human hu-man beings and he is the man usually referred to as his brother's keeper. Not because he Is lonely, although he Is sometimes, but De-cause De-cause he is alone and knows it and because he knows that all other men are alone too. In personal knowledge there la personal strength. |