英國設立“孤獨大臣”

導讀：你知道嗎，孤獨其實也是一種病，會對身心健康造成極大的傷害。為此，英國設立了“孤獨大臣”一職，專門處理英國人的孤獨問題。

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 “loneliness 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.

美國作家亨利·羅林斯曾寫道：“孤獨為生活添色，使落日余暉更加獨特，使夜晚空氣更加香甜。”誠然，在藝術家們眼中，孤獨似乎永不過時。許多畫作呈現孤獨，不少歌曲受其啟發，眾多文學作品也以這一主題為中心。

然而，在英國經濟學家瑞秋·里夫斯看來，孤獨一點也不浪漫，相反地，這個“巨大的惡魔”已經成為危害英國社會的一大嚴峻問題。

那么問題到底有多嚴峻呢？2018年1月17日，英國首相特雷莎·梅任命政治家特蕾西·克勞奇為英國首位“孤獨大臣”，處理該國所面臨的孤獨問題。據英國政府調查發現，英國有900多萬人深受孤獨影響，其對身心的危害甚于每天吸15支香煙。

而這一問題并非最近才開始出現。早在2014年，《電訊報》就將英國稱為“歐洲孤獨之都”。該報開展的一項調查發現，和其他歐洲國家相比，英國人不太愿意去認識自己的鄰居，或者與他人建立親密關系。

“英國人總想著自己解決問題。”智庫社會公平中心主任克里斯蒂安·蓋在接受《電訊報》采訪時表示。

但并非只有英國人深受該問題影響。盡管如今世界上大多數地區都連上了互聯網，和以往相比，人與人之間的聯系更加緊密，但事實上人人都在遭受前所未有的孤獨。

已故英國政治家喬·考克斯的姊妹金姆·利百特認為，我們需要擁有“適當的人際關系”。

“如今，我們的生活太過忙碌。我們把大部分時間耗在了手機、筆記本電腦上。我們需要暫停一下，坐下來和身邊人說說話。”利百特在一場活動上說道。

而抗擊孤獨的第一步便是正視這一問題，不要感到羞怯或被其嚇倒。畢竟，沒有孤獨，就不會有這么多美好的畫作、歌曲以及文學作品。不論其“邪惡”與否，孤獨都只是生而為人的一種經歷罷了。