“Sometimes it’s better to be lost anywhere in this world where you can ask directions than be lost inside yourself where redemption lies in your hands alone.”
- Anonymous
“Alone” is a very frightening word. People do things in order to be not “alone”: be identified through your “gang”; be identified through your parents; be coined through your teachers, because through association comes connections—being not alone. We are all in constant search for “belongingness” in our own communities, yet, we neglect to be acquainted with ourselves, and who we really are.
Before, we had submitted to the cultures of our parents, accept everything, feeling guilty when we did something against their commandments. Religion, values, and language, we inherited these things from them. In high school, we submitted to “peer” pressure. Smoking, cutting classes and integrating a rebellious streak to your personality--- these were and still are the products of this social “initiation”. Why are we afraid of being left alone?
Preaching is not my cup of tea, but this “Afraid of Being Alone Syndrome” clearly needs a response. We should not be afraid to know ourselves, or be left alone, because at the end of the day, we really are alone. I remember Sharon Olds’ “Sex Without Love” poem:
they are like great runners: they know they are alone
with the road surface, the cold, the wind,
the fit of their shoes, their over-all cardio
vascular health--just factors, like the partner
in the bed, and not the truth, which is the
single body alone in the universe
against its own best time.
We are the sole sculptors of the masterpiece we call our life, and no one else—that’s what I want to say.
This online magazine was formed to immortalize our struggles—as the sole operator of our lives. The staff aims to capture the memories that had made us who we are, and share it to people who are still searching.
On behalf of the staff, I welcome you to the first issue of our magazine—Handurawan.
- Anonymous
“Alone” is a very frightening word. People do things in order to be not “alone”: be identified through your “gang”; be identified through your parents; be coined through your teachers, because through association comes connections—being not alone. We are all in constant search for “belongingness” in our own communities, yet, we neglect to be acquainted with ourselves, and who we really are.
Before, we had submitted to the cultures of our parents, accept everything, feeling guilty when we did something against their commandments. Religion, values, and language, we inherited these things from them. In high school, we submitted to “peer” pressure. Smoking, cutting classes and integrating a rebellious streak to your personality--- these were and still are the products of this social “initiation”. Why are we afraid of being left alone?
Preaching is not my cup of tea, but this “Afraid of Being Alone Syndrome” clearly needs a response. We should not be afraid to know ourselves, or be left alone, because at the end of the day, we really are alone. I remember Sharon Olds’ “Sex Without Love” poem:
they are like great runners: they know they are alone
with the road surface, the cold, the wind,
the fit of their shoes, their over-all cardio
vascular health--just factors, like the partner
in the bed, and not the truth, which is the
single body alone in the universe
against its own best time.
We are the sole sculptors of the masterpiece we call our life, and no one else—that’s what I want to say.
This online magazine was formed to immortalize our struggles—as the sole operator of our lives. The staff aims to capture the memories that had made us who we are, and share it to people who are still searching.
On behalf of the staff, I welcome you to the first issue of our magazine—Handurawan.
Divina Amor Germina
Editor-in-Chief
