Archival photo of the Rev. Sydney Smith’s writing in the Spectator
NPR’s David Bouchier explores the practice of comforting and advising people struggling with loneliness and melancholia in a short radio piece. He questions the individualistic approaches in most self-help literature, and reads an 1820 letter from the Rev. Sydney Smith which he offers as a better model.
You can hear the story and read a transcript on the WSHU site.
Do Smith’s words resonate today? Bouchier adds his own advice–donate to your local public radio station–what would you add?
Posted by David Streever