Transvestia

the process of making friends by advertising in the local evening paper. "Lonely people interested in going on day trips and to the theatre are invited to contact Lady with car. Write Box X-100" She had 150 replies! Being a woman with a conscience, she engaged a private room at a restaurant and invited all 150. The result of this was the formation of a social club. Packer points out that the existence of a club does not automatically make it's members less lonely. At meetings, some members get into conversation easily, but "others, although they know that everyone in the room was seeking companion- ship, were prevented by some internal barrier from making contact with their neighbors". Lonely people are also slow to take responsibility. Out of a membership of over a hundred, only two or three volunteered to serve on the committee. "It may well be that loneliness endured over a long period makes one self-centred and reluctant to take on responsibility for anything which is not strictly personal".

The membership of the club is not stable. "Simply stated, the pattern is as follows find a friend and leave the club". Apart from shyness, Packer offers one explan- ation. "Having been lonely for so long, an individual on forming a close friendship wishes to insure that the alliance is protected from harm.. Fear could be at the base of this pattern of behaviour; fear that the newly found friend will find someone he or she likes better; fear of the hurt which the dissolution of the new friend- ship will cause, fear that the loss of a friend means that one is unworthy in some way. Loneliness produces a feeling of inadequacy; friendship produces a feeling of worth".

Are there lessons in this for individual TVs and for FPE? I think that there are. Are we lonely because we are TVs? Or are we the kind of person who is likely to embrace loneliness and, partly because of this, become TVs? Whichever comes first, one reinforces the other. Because we have to hide from society, we actually seek loneliness. As I write this, I am behind a locked door and would be dismayed if anyone knocked at the door. Breaking out is not easy because the door has been locked for years. Are there no exclusive friendships in TV land? Packer ends his article on the problem of those who did