By REY FLORES
If you’re like me, you visit the Drudge Report online a few times a day to read about what is going on in the world. Drudge offers all sorts of headlines about geopolitics to sports and entertainment and everything in between.
The one headline that stood out to me last week was this one: “ ‘Porn,’ ‘Lonely,’ ‘Suicide’ Among Top Late Night Google Searches.”
The headline refers to a recent New York Times analysis about what people are searching online at different times of the day. Apparently in the dark of night, all sorts of wild emotions are stirred in us, from lust to ideations of suicide.
So what does all of this data tell us?
It tells us, first of all, that people are so lonely now that they are seeking out some sort of cyber companionship via pornography on the Internet, but it serves only to bury them deeper in their wretched loneliness to the point of suicide.
So why is it that so many souls are lonely out here? With over 7 billion human beings on the planet, how is it that there are so many who either are alone or who feel so alone?
It isn’t so much about being alone, because there are many people who have family and friends around them, yet they also feel very much alone. Could it be depression, sadness, or anger that isolates them so? While all of these factors could certainly play a part in all this loneliness, what is really at play here is a lack of God.
Yes folks, this is the answer. It isn’t all that hard to figure out, but to the secular psychologists and pill-pushing psychiatrists, it’s an answer that they know but would never dare admit. To acknowledge that it is Godlessness that causes so much human loneliness and misery would render their professions obsolete.
It’s like Fr. Michael Pfleger in Chicago always crying about the so-called “gun problem,” when in reality what he is constantly dealing with but never confronts is the “sin problem.”
The reason people are searching for porno on the Internet is that they seek what they think is some kind of closeness with another person, but the intimacy they seek is beyond the touch of the flesh. Once their tiny moment of pleasure is satiated, the eternal consequences start to bear a heavy burden on the soul.
While men remain the main consumers of online porn, the frightening part is that little boys are discovering pornography earlier and earlier in their lives. This sets them up for a lifelong struggle against one of the most dreadful and insidious sins we men struggle with: lust.
And while men are porno’s largest audience, thanks to mainstream books and movies like 50 Shades of Grey, the “literotica” (erotic literature) industry is becoming more and more popular among working women and housewives. “Literotica” online searches are most popular in the morning hours when hubby has gone off to work.
The reason people search for information on loneliness on the Internet is the same reason they also search for information like “panic,” “anxiety,” “depression,” “nervous disorders,” and “addictions.” Instead of praying to and seeking God our Heavenly Father for answers, we seek answers online in hopes of being our own doctors.
This self-diagnosis is especially dangerous for Catholics because we know that what we really need is a good Confession and forgiveness and absolution. We must seek out God and His Church first instead of simply becoming guinea pigs for the big pharmaceutical drug peddlers and their psychiatric quack pushers.
Now the reason why people search for information on “suicide” in their dark moments of despair is pretty obvious. By the time they get here, they’ve already found out that pornography is nothing but a false illusion that brings us further shame and regret, sinking us deeper into the abyss of loneliness.
Interestingly enough, once 5:30 a.m. rolls around, people are then searching for “news,” “weather,” and thankfully “prayer.” As the dawn of the day comes around, light overcomes the darkness and new hope comes with the daylight.
Our answers perhaps go beyond seeking God, but to discipline ourselves to leave and walk away from our laptops and other computerized gadgets and try to connect with each other. Further discipline would have us pick up our Bibles instead of our iPad or tablets. Instead of Facebook, perhaps we can have some face time with the Blessed Sacrament in eucharistic adoration.
With the government-sanctioned abomination known as gay “marriage,” it is no wonder that so many people are being led astray into perversions that bring us nothing but the loss of our souls.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), suicide was the tenth leading cause of death for all ages in 2010; there were 38,364 suicides that year.
While there is no way to gauge loneliness, we know it’s very real and can have very terrible consequences if left untreated, and I mean untreated by God.
Just remember that with Him, Our Blessed Mother Mary, and all the angels and saints, we are never alone.
If anyone ever feels lonely and wants to reach out to someone, you can always reach me at reyfloresusa@gmail.com. Pray for me and I’ll pray for you.
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(Rey Flores is a Catholic writer and speaker and currently looking for a new job. If you have any leads for him or just want to contact him, email Rey at reyfloresusa@gmail.com.)
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