Article July 6, 1963 Issue

Signs of the Times

Fred Cloud

The Link

Fred Cloud, Associate Editor of Youth Publications The Methodist Church in The Link, a Protestant magazine for Armed Forces personnel Washington, District of Columbia

Though outer circumstances can lead to loneliness, that is not the whole picture. Our inner attitudes can contribute to our sense of loneliness, also. Perhaps the greatest psychological cause of loneliness is self-centeredness. This may he expressed in many subtle ways; and it is more easily recognized in others than in ourselves.

Another inner attitude that is hard to cope with, sometimes, is a feeling of being rejected by other people. These days we hear how much psychological damage can be done to a child if the parents cause him to feel that he is not wanted. As persons grow to adulthood, they discover that they are rejected by many groups in society—if they are not of the right race, the right religion, the right economic class, and so on.

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