ON BEING SINGLE, FRIENDSHIP, AND HAPPINESS
Society pushes on single people that they are only valuable to society if they are dating or married. There is nothing inherently wrong with this since human connection is important, but there are different degrees and different types of human love. On a deeper level, though, society neglects and underplays the importance of friendship in individuals’ lives in favor of romance and erotic love. Robert Waldinger, in a Ted Talk, explains that Harvard University conducted a study that found people who had social connections and close friendships lived longer than people who were lonely and who isolated themselves from human connection. Contrary to society’s portrayal of single people, singles have the ability to form a close community of social connections and human relationships that have been found to make individuals live longer. Singles should seek to find a core community to form various levels of social connections with other people.