Dying of Loneliness

 

You sometimes hear people say that someone is “dying of the loneliness”. It reminds me of a story about a group of islands off the west coast of Kerry in Ireland, called the Blaskets. Impossibly beautiful but perched in the wild Atlantic; they are the westernmost tip of Europe. A friend in school’s father came from there. He spoke our native language like a poetry I had never heard. The islands were impossible to reach in the winter because of heavy seas. In the 1950’s a young boy became extremely ill and needed evacuation but was unable to be reached and he subsequently died. The government issued a forcible evacuation order from the island and people were moved to the mainland where houses and a small patch of land awaited them. The weather was so bad when the islanders were evacuated they were only able to take two chairs and a single box between them. Though only separated by a narrow stretch of water, the loss of their island culture was enormous. It was said the men continued to walk in single file along the roads, as if still on their cliff paths. Many who were older did not settle at all. Looking out every day on their homeland was a daily reminder of their loss. The youngest survivor said they just curled up and died. Which makes you wonder …can you actually die of loneliness?