Currently more than 38 million Americans are on their own at home, a number that has tripled since 1940. So don’t think that just because I live alone I’m sitting in isolation each night when I come home from teaching. How many people who live alone do not have a relationship with another person they talk with every day? Most of us live our lives as though “nothing can possibly go wrong, not to me,” which is a neglectful and cavalier attitude at best. Even though I live alone, I know someone’s got my back, and I don’t take that for granted.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 11, 2026 19:27 UTC