AWWWW pip, hugs to ya!!!

The odd thing is that the people I have the most satisfying, intimate conversations with are loners - at the moment, they are people I've met on Tribe. I feel more connection with them than I do with my "real-life" friends whom I've known for years. I don't feel that most of my RL friends know what's going on in my life half as well as a couple of my Tribe friends whom I've known only a couple of months. It's because with RL friends, we 'socialize' (and only occasionally, because everyone is so busy) and with online friends, we talk - often at length. In general, the conversations are deeper and more extensive with online friends.

So, I don't think being a loner is a bad thing. My assumption is that loners are just choosier about who they hang out with and what they do with their time. They're not willing to put up with all the BS in the world just to be accepted as a member of society.

Thanks for your kind words, Pip. I don't think I'm at all brave, it's just that loneliness is very painful to me. I have a strong need for connection. I wonder at the relative ease with which some of you other loners seem to handle being alone.

you know, im in the military, and thers this guy, he's a first class petty officer, just beneath a chief, and he is the nicest guy, and today i was watching him go down the brow, ( i was standing watch as messenger, the guy that is afectionately referred to as the bullet sponge, cuz i guard the brow, but dont carry a gun, lol) anyway, so hes down there and hes cleaning the pier of minor debris, normally they muster the duty section for that, and hes taking care of it by himself. One of the chiefs was standing next to me and said "Hes too nice, thats his problem." i said, "being nice is a problem?" him not asking or demanding makes me want to go down there and help him out but if hes being a dick then i dont want to help him" and the chief said, "yeah, well , youre one of the few".
This got me thinking, what do other people think of "being nice" we all know that being nice is the right thing to do, right? but if we DO it, we get taken advantage of, and eventually our trust gets betrayed, which may make us bitter,so my question is this:
WHY do we keep doing it? why do we keep caring? i often ask myself why i keep bothering, and i keep coming up with the same answer. Because its the right thing to do. i wonder what will happen to me if it no longer becomes enough and when i finally get betrayed often enough what will happen to me, will i become a bad person? why is chosing NOT to set myself up for failure make me a bad person? just because i choose to let things go the way others ahve done so for generations, treat others like crap, or just ignore them, i cant ever treat people like that but i CAN choose not to help when my neck is on the line, and i wonder one day if im ever going to cross that line.

Ehh food for thought.