Some people have been so hurt by life that they seek total isolation. I met a man in 1954 who had just come out of the bush. After the war, in which he had seen the horrors that only humans can devise against one another, he could not stand being around people. He built a cabin in the forest of the Yukon and lived there alone for five years!

But no man is an island; and totally alone, we cannot fulfill the purpose God has for us. The pains brought on by human interaction must be endured to experience its joys. We are loved by others, and isolating ourselves is rejecting others and causes pain to many. In the end, hermits are the losers. Friends and families are the real winners.

Further Reading:
"The Importance of Right Friendships" from Making Life Work. Online at www.thisistheway.org/booklets/LW/rightfriendships.htm