Society And Isolation

So I guess we all have been in a situation where all we wanted was to be left alone, I know I have. This behaviour is not an entirely awkward one; but when being alone becomes the identity associated with an individual, the effects are threatening.
Why it could be threatening, you may ask. The simple explanation is; our social lives, our behaviour, our attitude, and our personal relationships become affected, they deteriorate so much that the only way out of the brewing catastrophe is to do the exact opposite of what being left alone originally entails. Becoming sociable and accessible is just about as good as medicine is to health in countering the effects of isolation.
The world is dangerous and there are enemies everywhere-everyone has to protect themselves. Building a fortress or wall will almost always seem the best and safest alternative. But isolation exposes us to more danger than it protects us from; it cuts the individual from valuable information-information that may not be so important to this individual, but still it is information nonetheless. Isolation also makes a person conspicuous and an easy target. Humans, being habitual in nature will find a way to make the stand-alone guy regret ever being a loner. People love to see that others are interested in them, this is one sentiment a loner does not care to stroke. Keeping ones' self in a one-man army comes off to others as a sign of arrogance and aloofness, this may just be the number one reason why a loner is usually mistaken for an arrogant/proud person.
It is good to circulate among people, find allies, and mingle. “No man is an island”, they say. An individual is usually shielded from predator jabs and disgruntled attacks from others when they blend into the crowd.
The center of attention and completely obvious John will almost always, and with certainty, be the focal point of criticism when the time comes for it.

THE EMPEROR RULER OF CHINA
Ch’in Shih Huang Ti, the first emperor of China (221-210 B.C), was the mightiest man of his day. His empire was vaster and more powerful than that of Alexander the Great. He had conquered all the kingdoms surrounding his own kingdom of Ch’in and unified them into one massive realm called China, forging a single nation and culture out of many. He also consolidated the many walls on the borders and built them into the Great Wall of China. Now after so many accomplishments, and during the last years of his life; few, if anyone, saw him.
The emperor lived in the most magnificent palace built to that date, in the capital city of Hsien-yang. The palace had 270 pavilions; all of these were connected by secret underground passageways, allowing the emperor to move through the palace without anyone seeing him. He slept in a different room every night, and anyone who inadvertently laid eyes on him was instantly beheaded. Only a handful of men knew his whereabouts, and if they revealed it to anyone, they too, were put to death.
The first emperor had grown so terrified of human contact that when he had to leave the palace he traveled incognito, disguising himself carefully. On one such trip through the provinces, he ‘suddenly’ died. His body was borne back to the capital in the emperor’s carriage, with a cart packed with salted fish trailing behind to cover up the smell of the rotting corpse-no one was to know of his death. He died alone, far from his family, his wives, his friends, and his courtiers, accompanied only by a minister and a handful of eunuchs.
Emperor Ch’in was a renowned warrior, fearless and of unbridled ambition. He made many enemies because of his policies, most of which he enacted during the process of unification. As a result of this, he grew constantly afraid, even paranoid, thus he withdrew deeper and deeper into the palace to protect himself. As a side effect of the decision he made to remain hidden, he slowly lost control of the realm and happenings around him. Eunuchs and ministers formulated political policies and enacted them without his approval, some even without his knowledge; they also plotted against him. By the end, he was emperor in name only because he was so isolated; he also lost the respect and reverence he once commanded in his court.

This is one of many repercussions in isolation: Retreat into a fortress and you lose your ear for what is happening around you, as well as a sense of proportion. I myself have been in a situation like this, I know from experience that keeping to ones’ self and being isolated creates more problems than it solves. Apart from cutting yourself off from all kinds of information around you, one can become a victim of depression, even suicidal thoughts may emerge if not managed carefully. Suffice it to say, Emperor Ch’in Shih Huang Ti was poisoned by the very same people he let into the wall he formed around himself.

(Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favourable to virtue... Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly mad, Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON, 1709-1784).

Because humans are social creatures by nature, anyone who seeks to be left alone will only stir up some form of antagonizing behaviour from those around him. He will become the butt of a joke, the focal point of an illustration, in fact, trouble will always be directed towards him; all this is done mostly to illicit some kind of reaction from that individual, a reaction that will definitely push him out of the cage he built around himself. In my experience with it, I just had to deal with it; there are places where I’m seen as the loner, then there are places where I’m seen as the outgoing sociable type. To counter-balance my genetic trait of being mostly reserved; I chose where, when and in what situation to remain isolated; after weighing the effects of course. Whenever I did decide to keep to myself, probably as a last resort to thinking clearly and gaining perspective on an idea or object of thought, I’m usually very careful in keeping a way back into society wide open.
The more a person is in contact with others, the more graceful and at ease they become. Isolation, on the other hand, engenders awkwardness in a persons' gestures. This awkwardness is easy to sense, and will only drive the individual further into isolation.

(A good and wise prince, desirous of maintaining that character, and to avoid giving the opportunity to his sons to become oppressive, will never build fortresses, so that they may place their reliance upon the good will of their subjects, and not upon the strength of citadels, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, 1469-1527).