How the American Dream convinces people loneliness is normal
People walk past an American flag inside the Oculus, part of the World Trade Center transportation hub, at the start of a work day in New York, Sept. 11, 2019. American lore is full of tales of a nation built on the foundations of individualism. In reality, loneliness in America can be deadly. In May 2023, the U.S. surgeon general declared it an epidemic, saying that it takes as deadly a toll as smoking. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)
By TED ANTHONY
AP National Writer
NEW YORK — At the end of “The Searchers,” one of John Wayne’s most renowned Westerns, a kidnapped girl has been rescued and a family reunited. As the closing music swells, Wayne's character looks around at his kin — people who have other people to lean on — and then walks off toward the dusty West Texas horizon, lonesome and alone...