A third place refers to a location outside of the home (first place); according to Katherine Varrell, writer for The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. She says, the workplace/school (second place) that enhances one’s community. Third places are a key component in building a community and support system, yet they seem to be vanishing.

Most recently, when COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 crashed the planet into upheaval—-it essentially created an epidemic of loneliness in the process; everything changed—-businesses, schools, churches, travel—jobs were held in suspended animation. We couldn’t visit, work, play, travel, nothing face-to-face. Certainly there were workarounds for essentials—using extreme cautions. Still, millions of people died, and untold others suffered radical hits.

We have not entirely recovered from the loneliness epidemic—it is worse than we realize; it need not be fatal. Rebekah Brandes, a writer for Nice News, points out how important it is to have a “Third Place.” Which—is sorely needed—maybe even more since the Pandemic. She points out that most people live in two places; home and work. We work so we can have a place to live. We live in order to get to work. That’s my much over simplified account. That Third Place she writes of is that regular place in addition to home, where you can relax, feel free to be me, to bask in enjoyment.

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg described third places as informal and accessible public settings that promote conversation and relaxation — like parks, coffee shops, hair salons, gyms, libraries, churches, and even virtual spaces. In light of wide spread loneliness, a third place can be as vital as rest, diet, water, and breath. I list breath as a life-giving sustenance—something like avoiding the threat suffocation. We need home as our secure source, and we need work for livelihood and productivity; we need The Third Place as we nerve and express our existential essence.

We human beings were created to be social. When God created the world, human companionship was as vital as breath. James Weldon Johnson expressed this wonderfully in his poem, Creation. After God created the world and its creatures…

…He looked on his world
With all its living things,
And God said: I’m lonely still.

Then God sat down—
On the side of a hill where he could think;
By a deep, wide river he sat down;
With his head in his hands,
God thought and thought,
Till he thought: I’ll make me a man.

Gene McDaniels also emphasized the human need for social contact, as he wrote A Hundred Pounds of Clay.. as he spoke of God creating Woman; With just a hundred pounds of clay He made my life worth livin’ And I will thank Him every day. Jessica Finlay, an assistant professor in the Institute of Behavioral Science wrote; Studies have shown that just having a diversity of folks in your life … more informal and infrequent and unplanned, can be really protective for health and well-being.

Dear Reader, you probably remember the theme song from the comedy, Cheers’ of the 1980s—Where Everybody Knows My Name. It underscores our human need for a Third Place. Kathy Giuffre, a professor at Colorado College who studies third places, told The Atlantic in 2022—Socializing is a learned skill, but the last time we learned it we were probably little kids…so be kind to yourself, because you might be out of practice.

Jesus had his own Third Place-—Bethany. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus always welcomed him there. In times of stress or being overworked, he returned to Bethany where he unwearied.

I hope you have a Third Place, where you go to be unwearied.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2024