Lyrically Speaking #1: "How To Fight Loneliness"

"How do you fight loneliness? Smile all the time. Shine you teeth till meaningless. Sharpen them with lies, and whatever's going down will follow you around. That's how you fight loneliness. You laugh at every joke. Drag your blanket blindly. Fill your heart with smoke, and the first thing that you want will be the last thing you ever need. That's how you fight it. Just smile all the time..."

"How to Fight Loneliness" - Wilco

I've always found this an interesting song, because it addresses a problem everyone has to face at some point in their life, loneliness...While I do not subscribe to all its methods of fighting loneliness, it does confront me with the question of just how do you fight it?

Obviously, this is not an easy question to tackle or there would not be so many lonely people out there (queue Eleanor Rigby), and I'm pretty sure there would be no more country music. However, there is one line which stands out to me in this song: "just smile all the time..."

What is gained by dwelling on the negative? In some ways, it seem loneliness feeds on itself. When we are lonely, it is easy to let loneliness become our focus. It becomes a distorted window through which we view the world around us. It becomes easier to recognize the negative and harder to recognize the positive; easier to frown, harder to smile...

That is why I actually like the idea to "just smile all the time." It is a conscious choice to fight against the often negative mindset of loneliness. It is a choice to not give up hope.

I don't say this as something I have mastered, or even something I am good at. At times it is a daily battle to chose to smile and recognize the blessings around me. However, I believe there is a hope worth fighting for... there is a love which triumphs over loneliness... That alone is worth smiling about.

:)