Social creature

Sometimes I just want to watch the sunset in silent meditation and prayer.

Usually I want to show it to someone else. I can't put a finger on why, but it is better when someone else is grateful for it too.

I've spent enough time traveling and eating alone to say that there's something similar with food. "Eating you can do by yourself; dining demands friends." Whether I'm among the hosts or the guests or just customers, the food and drink are better when I'm with people. Eating isn't just an animal thing, it's a social thing. I wonder if when I eat alone I gain weight from the high-fat things I eat, or lose it because I don't have the same appetite/

Checking around, I find that Dalrymple got there first, writing of extreme cases: "Meals here were solitary, poor, nasty, British, and short."