Imagine that you’re relaxing at a casual family gathering. Conversation is flowing, the food is hitting just right and everybody is enjoying each other’s company. Suddenly, your good time is interrupted by an elder pulling you aside and pushing you toward a paunchy, bespectacled sack lurking in a corner. “Your poor uncle is by himself at that table,” they say. “Why don’t you sit with him for a bit?”
You politely but firmly decline, but your relative insists. “Go on, now,” they say. “He’s been so lonely since his career died.”
