Ann Friedman Feb 3

“I read Bowling Alone two decades ago: I’m tired of trend articles about loneliness. I am bored of talking about the busy-busy-busy nature of modern adult life when there is no structural reprieve in sight. And I really hate it when experts make social connection seem like a trick or a fluke. We have managed to socialize generations of women into this role on a family level, and some people on a community level, too. Imagine if we tried to expand the number of kinkeepers, even a little bit, by respecting this work as work. As vocation.”

I'm still thinking about this and, quite honestly, the idea of happiness via relationships is true, but who keeps them going? How do we get both sides to want to do that? I think about that a lot, because too often I've been the one who's doing all the work and it's exhausting and I think Friedman hits the nail on the head here.