Solitude.....

If words have power, then this word is the single most powerful ever created. It can evoke any of a number of emotions, from blind terror to quiet bliss. It creates images of warm baths, padded cells, dank tombs, and a nameless lightless abyss. How is it that this is possible? Solitude can be viewed as those quiet moments when our fast paced lives finally allow us a break, so we can enjoy the peace and tranquility. It can also be that darker place, where endless moment bleed into endless hours and meld into eternity. It is dark, dank, claustrophibically terrifying, leaving the sturdiest of souls mewling like tortured kittens. But in this day and age, where technology links every able body on the planet together, how can solitude exist? The reality is that as our technology advances, we thrust ourselves deeper and deeper into solitude. Worse still, nothing can stop it. We as a species will do everything in our power to be connected to the whole world, and in doing so we will never be more seperated. We will achieve perfect solitude.

The strangest thing about solitude is that it knows no bounds. Heroes and villains share one constant: Solitude. The hero inevitably has to face the final show down with no one but himself on his side, his friends and allies having fled or been killed. And as the villain faces the hero, his minions have all been killed or run off, leaving him with no one left to hide behind. Whichever side they are on, solitude is their fate. They take up their swords, guns. phasers, etc. and embark on a mission to give their solitude meaning. Even religion exists to keep us from aknowledging the fact that death is the final solitude. I believe in a here after, not in an inherently christian sense, but I believe in one.

But no matter what the end of my existence might bring, I know that one thing will remain the same from now until my final breath and beyond. I will be alone.