The Ultimate Loneliness

One of the most exalted and touching compliments a person can receive is:
 
There is no one like you in the world.
 
I have been on both the giving and receiving ends of this a few times, and have meant it with genuine appreciation for one of my highest values– uniqueness, and taken it as treasured accolade from people who, at least in that moment, shared that value with me.
 
But most of the people I’ve said this to or have wanted to say it to house at least a mild underlying loneliness about them, no matter what’s going on in their lives, or how many people to whom they feel, in any broad or specific way, connected.  I am in no way exempt.
 
This leads me to notice an underside of the gilded coin, the backlash of the veneration.  Instead of reading the statement with a tone of beauty-beholding awe, read it this time with at least a subtle tone of poignance:

There is no one like you in the world.