英國(guó)設(shè)立“孤獨(dú)大臣”

導(dǎo)讀：你知道嗎，孤獨(dú)其實(shí)也是一種病，會(huì)對(duì)身心健康造成極大的傷害。為此，英國(guó)設(shè)立了“孤獨(dú)大臣”一職，專門處理英國(guó)人的孤獨(dú)問(wèn)題。

US author Henry Rollins once wrote： “Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.” Indeed， in the eyes of artists， loneliness never seems to go out of style. There are paintings that portray loneliness， songs that are inspired by loneliness， and many works of literature that center around this theme.

In the eyes of UK economist Rachel Reeves， however， loneliness is far from romantic. Instead， its a “giant evil” thats become a serious problem in the country.

So just how serious is it？ On Jan. 17， 2018， UK Prime Minister Theresa May appointed politician Tracey Crouch as the countrys very first “Minister for Loneliness”. Her job is to tackle the loneliness that the countrys been feeling—a problem which， according to UK government research， is affecting more than 9 million people in the country， and is more harmful to ones physical and mental health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

And the problem hasnt just appeared recently. Back in 2014， the UK was given the title of the “l(fā)oneliness capital of Europe” by The Telegraph. A survey carried out by the newspaper found that British people were less likely to get to know their neighbors or build strong relationships with people than those from other European countries.

“There is something about the British wanting to deal with problems themselves，” Christian Guy， director of the Centre for Social Justice think-tank， told The Telegraph.

But this doesnt mean that the problem only affects Britons. In fact， were all suffering from loneliness now more than ever， in spite of most of the world now having access to the Internet， which has enabled us to be more connected than ever.

What we need， according to Kim Leadbetter， sister of the late UK politician Jo Cox， is to have “proper human connections”.

“Our lives nowadays are so busy. We spend the vast majority of our time on our phones， on our laptops. We need to press pause on that and actually sit down and speak to human beings，” Leadbetter said at an event.

But the first steps toward fighting this problem are to accept its existence and not be ashamed or intimidated by it. After all， without loneliness， many beautiful paintings， songs， and literary works wouldnt even exist. And “evil” or not， being lonely is simply part of the experience of being human.

美國(guó)作家亨利·羅林斯曾寫道：“孤獨(dú)為生活添色，使落日余暉更加獨(dú)特，使夜晚空氣更加香甜。”誠(chéng)然，在藝術(shù)家們眼中，孤獨(dú)似乎永不過(guò)時(shí)。許多畫作呈現(xiàn)孤獨(dú)，不少歌曲受其啟發(fā)，眾多文學(xué)作品也以這一主題為中心。

然而，在英國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家瑞秋·里夫斯看來(lái)，孤獨(dú)一點(diǎn)也不浪漫，相反地，這個(gè)“巨大的惡魔”已經(jīng)成為危害英國(guó)社會(huì)的一大嚴(yán)峻問(wèn)題。

那么問(wèn)題到底有多嚴(yán)峻呢？2018年1月17日，英國(guó)首相特雷莎·梅任命政治家特蕾西·克勞奇為英國(guó)首位“孤獨(dú)大臣”，處理該國(guó)所面臨的孤獨(dú)問(wèn)題。據(jù)英國(guó)政府調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，英國(guó)有900多萬(wàn)人深受孤獨(dú)影響，其對(duì)身心的危害甚于每天吸15支香煙。

而這一問(wèn)題并非最近才開始出現(xiàn)。早在2014年，《電訊報(bào)》就將英國(guó)稱為“歐洲孤獨(dú)之都”。該報(bào)開展的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，和其他歐洲國(guó)家相比，英國(guó)人不太愿意去認(rèn)識(shí)自己的鄰居，或者與他人建立親密關(guān)系。

“英國(guó)人總想著自己解決問(wèn)題。”智庫(kù)社會(huì)公平中心主任克里斯蒂安·蓋在接受《電訊報(bào)》采訪時(shí)表示。

但并非只有英國(guó)人深受該問(wèn)題影響。盡管如今世界上大多數(shù)地區(qū)都連上了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，和以往相比，人與人之間的聯(lián)系更加緊密，但事實(shí)上人人都在遭受前所未有的孤獨(dú)。

已故英國(guó)政治家喬·考克斯的姊妹金姆·利百特認(rèn)為，我們需要擁有“適當(dāng)?shù)娜穗H關(guān)系”。

“如今，我們的生活太過(guò)忙碌。我們把大部分時(shí)間耗在了手機(jī)、筆記本電腦上。我們需要暫停一下，坐下來(lái)和身邊人說(shuō)說(shuō)話。”利百特在一場(chǎng)活動(dòng)上說(shuō)道。

而抗擊孤獨(dú)的第一步便是正視這一問(wèn)題，不要感到羞怯或被其嚇倒。畢竟，沒(méi)有孤獨(dú)，就不會(huì)有這么多美好的畫作、歌曲以及文學(xué)作品。不論其“邪惡”與否，孤獨(dú)都只是生而為人的一種經(jīng)歷罷了。