We're Meant for Community, Not Isolation

There’s definitely a modern push towards valuing independence, sometimes at the expense of close relationships. We often hear that success means putting our personal goals, dreams, and ambitions first. Yet, when everyone is so focused on their own individual paths, it can feel isolating—even in a world that offers countless ways to connect digitally. Genuine community can be grounding; it creates a sense of collective resilience, a network of real human support.

In our pursuit of independence, we sometimes idealize people to the point where mistakes become unforgivable, and kindness is seen as weakness. This idealizing can make it harder to truly connect or forgive, replacing compassion with judgment and leaving little room for the acceptance and understanding that create true bonds. The shift has us all holding people to impossible standards instead of allowing space for human error and growth, which ultimately fragments community further.

We're losing something essential if we disconnect too much. The emphasis on having pets as a substitute for people could even be seen as a symptom of this shift—our way of filling an emotional void with the unconditional companionship we miss from human relationships. But the strength that comes from genuine human community, from friendships that allow for vulnerability, cannot be fully replaced by this kind of companionship.

Modern ideals often present success as an individual pursuit—be self-made, self-sufficient, self-focused—yet this message sometimes pulls us away from values that have long been core to human connection, like kindness, empathy, and understanding. In the rush to become “successful” and “independent,” we risk losing the very qualities that make us resilient and whole as a society.