“I have been to many countries and seen much poverty and suffering. Everywhere I go people tell me of their hardships and struggles, and ask for help, and I give what I can. But of all the countries I have been to, the poorest one I have been to is America, because America suffers most from the poverty of loneliness.” – Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa believed that the poorest country in the world is the United States, because it has the most loneliness, and loneliness, she believed, is worse than poverty. It hurts more than hunger, leprosy or sickness.

Loneliness causes very real, physical and mental pain.

Oddly enough, it was while watching Naruto that that message was shown to me in a clearer light. Naruto talks about loneliness quite often. The show follows the stories of many different young ninjas and the struggles and adventures they have. Uzumaki Naruto, the main character, was alone for most of his life because of a cursed seal that was put on him at birth, essentially sealing a dangerous monster inside of him. The pain that he felt was worse than any hunger or illness. Until he entered the academy at around age 10, he was alone, no parents, siblings or friends. He wasn’t very strong or smart, and his loneliness seemed to make that worse. But there was an amazing change that you could see in this kid when one person believed in and loved him. His teacher saved his life when Naruto was almost murdered, because he believed in him, and he became a friend; someone to talk to and someone to listen. As the story progresses, he slowly makes more friends, and his power grows.

The story of Gaara was even harder to watch. He grew up in a different village, feared and hated because of strange and dangerous powers he had had since birth that made him deadly strong and impossible to kill. He didn’t have friends or anyone who loved him. The one person who he thought loved him tried to assassinate him, only to die in his arms due to his unfortunate powers. No teacher stood up for him, no peers chose to spend time with him. He became a killer, letting the monster inside of him control him.

There was one point in the show where Naruto and Gaara met. Gaara was trying to kill people close to Naruto (something Gaara unfortunately tries to do a lot. I always feel bad for the bad guys). Naruto of course was angry; he had spend so much time alone and was now fiercely protective of his friends. But he felt more than anger—he felt pity and understanding for the killer standing before him, and said, “The pain of being alone is completely out of this world, isn’t it? I don’t know why, but I understand your feelings so much, it actually hurts… The pain of being alone…is not an easy one to bear.” He saw how similar they were, and he saw the pain while everyone else just saw what Gaara had become. “While you’re alive, you need a reason for your existence. Being unable to find one is the same as being dead,” he said. Naruto understood loneliness. He understood that it was the worst thing you could feel.

It’s just a show, but the change in these characters showed me something that can be seen in our own lives. There is so much truth hidden in this fiction. These two kids both grew up alone, but one of them ended up being loved, and was able to become (spoiler) the “hokage” or leader of the whole village when he was older. All this happened because one person believed in him, leading to more and more people believing in him, until he was eventually trusted by the whole village, which once hated him.

We often feel the need to act drastically to help the world. We think we need to go to another country, to have some specialized profession, or some special training. And yet we are unaware of the power we possess. We live in a world where loneliness, depression and anxiety are the norm. People are searching for relationships. It’s a part of being human. When we don’t have relationships, we become weak, hurt, damaged people. Lonely people bare a terrible burden. Just watch Naruto, and you will see many examples of what loneliness can do to you. But also while watching Naruto, notice how love can change a person. Loneliness makes a person weak as if they had a disease, but love makes people strong enough to fight anything that comes their way. Loneliness makes it harder to let people in, but we need to start seeing each other, talking to each other and loving each other. Loneliness hurts, loneliness kills, so if you see someone in pain, try to let them into your world. If we were able to love a little more, as cliché as that sounds, we might be able to eradicate loneliness.