whateveritmaybe.Sohowdowestartbringing that back? This is what Small Giants do so
well,DumboFeatherdosowell,bringingback a sense of community in a busy world. And
particularlyformen,weknowthatloneliness is the number one killer for them. Loneliness
isoftena precedenttoanxiety,depressionand suicide; the lack of social connection. A lot of
data’scomingoutnowthatthecauseofdepression isn’t the chemical imbalance—that’s just
somethingthepharmaceuticalcompanieshave told us. Actually, it’s grieving. It’s a period
ofgrief.Whenwe’retoldtotakemedication, anti-depressants, it may not allow the body to
dealwiththegrief.Thatgriefcouldbea loss of connection to self, connection to meaningful
relationships,meaningfulwork,nature,nourishing food. There’s an amazing author,
JohannHari,whowroteLostConnectionsand he talks about the opposite of addiction being
connection.Hetellsthisstoryofgivingrats heroin. One of the rat’s water has heroin in it, and
theotherwasjuststraightwater.Theratwho drinks the heroin will get addicted to the heroin
anddieafterabout 30 days.Andtheywerelike, “See? Heroin’s a bad and addictive drug,
it’llkillyou.”Butthen,whattheylaterrevealed is that when they put more rats into that
environment,theratsdidn’tgetaddictedto the heroin. The social connection there with the
otherratsisstrongenoughtopreventit.Sotheconnectionoverrunstheaddiction.And if you look at our culture, we create these
situationswherewearetheratssittinginour houses or places of work by ourselves tapped
intoourdevicesfeelinglikethathitofdopamine or serotonin is given to us, and we don’t
haveexperienceinintimacy.Ifwecomeback to the data, the common denominator of what’s
causinga lotofhurtandpaininthisworldis men causing harm. Harm to themselves, their
relationships,theircommunities.Soifwecan work with boys at a preventative level, focus
ontheirstrengthsratherthantheirdeficits, and develop their interpersonal skills, social
connection,andgivethemskillsandknowledge to navigate their teenage years, I think the
worldwouldbea muchbetterplaceforeveryone.Holy shit! Wow.
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HUNTER JOHNSON
DUMBO FEATHER