Loneliness is brutal. It's bad stuff. It goes beyond mere boredom, or sadness, or any of those surface-level emotions. It hits deep, it doesn't go away, it's hard stuff.
But, well, I'm sorry, this just feels kinda worse.
While many have their own hobbies that keep them going through the cold dark winter months [in Luleå, Sweden] - ice swimming, cross-country skiing, walking on the "ice road" out into the archipelago - one thing remains a problem: loneliness. In an attempt to counter that, authorities in Luleå have launched a campaign to ease that social isolation, ever so slightly, by encouraging people to say hello to one another.
Yes. That's it.
It really is a legitimate campaign, with a name and a whole public effort and everything:
The Säg hej! (say hello!) campaign says it aims to create a friendlier city by nudging people towards small but significant social interactions. Adverts are running on buses, and workshops are being held in schools.
And, you know what, in one sense this is kind of a nice idea.
I mean it is nice to say hi to people. Most of the time people just walk along without engaging or interacting with anyone around them. It's a bummer. It certainly makes for a colder, less appealing city, one way or the other.
And yet the creation of a public campaign to try and fix this problem is itself another layer of depressing reality.
It shows, if nothing else, that the problem is much deeper than we really realize. I mean, saying hello should not require a major public PR effort. It should come pretty naturally. The fact that people are (a) lonely, but (b) require a government effort to help them reverse those feelings — it's rough stuff, folks.
And it's a lot of people feeling lonely:
Recent research found that among 16- to 29-year-olds, 45% of people in Luleå were experiencing problems as a result of loneliness.
Nearly half! And they still have to be prodded to say hello on the street. God be with them.
Maybe the campaign will be a success. It does seem like the local Swedes are taking to it. Swedish people are famously affable and willing to please, so I suppose it might not take much. As one of them put it:
"One hej can change a day for somebody."
It's true, it can. So say hello next time you see someone when you're out and about — no need to wait for the government to tell you to do it.
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