Can the WHO Fix Loneliness?

<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW74093792 BCX4"> <p><span data-contrast="none">A week before Thanksgiving,</span> <a href= "https://people.com/who-declares-loneliness-pressing-health-threat-launches-commission-8403598?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=people&utm_content=likeshop"> <span data-contrast="none">the World Health Organization</span> <span data-contrast="none">declared loneliness a new public health crisis</span></a><span data-contrast="none">.</span> <span data-contrast="none">While it’s great that global leaders are recognizing the dangerous social and even physical risks of social isolation, this crisis is anything but new.</span><span data-ccp-props= "{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":213,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">The WHO’s new declaration will lead to more research into the detrimental effects loneliness can have on our health and a new “Commission on Social Connection,” to “promote social connection as a priority and accelerate the scaling up of solutions.” </span><span data-ccp-props= "{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":213,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">Bureaucracy-speak aside, any successful efforts to “promote social connection” must take into account what it means to be human. We aren’t defective machines or problems to be solved. We are persons created in the image of God, made for connection with Him and with one another. We need families. We need dads. We need to be the kind of people who</span> <a href= "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+4:1-3&version=ESV"> <span data-contrast="none">bear with one another</span></a><span data-contrast="none">,</span> <span data-contrast="none">even across distance and relational tension. This means we need</span> <a href= "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+36:26&version=ESV"> <span data-contrast="none">hearts of flesh</span></a> <span data-contrast="none">that only God–not statecraft–can give us.</span></p> </div>