Why Gen-Y Should Bring Back The Lost Art Of Writing Love Letters

Forgiveness: It's one word.

But can you really forgive and forget?

Can you really forget the pain, the hurt and the way someone treated you unfairly?

I recently got an apology out of the blue. (It always seems to happen that way, right?)

I didn't get it.

All it said was, “I’m sorry.”

Yes, it's pretty straightforward.

I get that, but I expected something bigger.

Is this generation jaded?

Do we not know how to give an apology, or are my expectations too high?

Today, we are so afraid of making fools of ourselves and of putting our hearts on the line.

It seems we are always looking for the easy way out, a way to just make the bad go away without truly confronting it.

Why can’t we own up to our actions fully and completely?

Should we just be happy an apology was given?

In some instances, I guess so (depending on the circumstances).

Maybe it's because I was born in the wrong era.

Maybe I read too much of "Love Letters of Great Men."

Maybe I watch too many romantic movies.

But why are people so desensitized today?

Maybe we need to bring back the idea of the love letter.

Imagine if we could bring back the idea of the love letter and the way we lay our hearts on a piece of paper (or in this case, in a text message).

We would understand what it truly means to extend an apology.

But I wonder, in this era of selfies, self-absorption and commitment phobias, can we find the true meaning of real, selfless love?

I’m tired of the communication barrier this generation has to endure.

We think sending a text is as personal as a phone call or a handwritten letter.

I want effort, I want truth and I want to know thought was put into a sincere apology.

I’m not asking for a big romantic gesture. I’m not asking for 365 letters.

Just imagine apologies that were written hundreds of years ago, with emotion and urgency.

If I got the message I wanted and expected, it would sound something like this:

I wanted to give you something more than just the anxious acts of my doing.

I wanted to give you something other than the desperation that will be lurking from these words, settling in your stomach with disgust.

The words “I’m sorry” have numbed your ears. I’m sorry for that.

But all I have are words.

And they're not just words; they're words carefully chosen for you.

“Actions speak louder than words," you would always say.

I want you to remember my lips beneath your fingers and how you told me things you never told another soul.

I want you to know I have kept secret everything you have entrusted in me, and I always will.

You were a dream, then a reality.

Now, you're a memory.

We became strangers, exactly as I feared.

You went on without me, and you seemed not to be affected by the loss of me in your life.

I could compare you to a summer’s day and throw Shakespeare around.

I could tell you how I would grab each individual star in the sky, lasso the moon down for you and give you every beauty this life has to offer.

It won’t erase the night in the parking lot.

It won’t fade away the pain of your heart or the pieces that were shattered.

I viciously and quietly tiptoed around them like a broken vase afraid to get cut.

When I close my eyes, I see yours.

I want you to know I pushed you away when I only meant to bring you closer.

If I ever felt like home to you, it was because you were safe with me.

What I feel for you can’t be expressed. It either screams out loud or stays embarrassingly silent.

But I promise it beats every word. It beats the world.

So please give me the honor of holding your soul again, even though I have no right to request such an act.

I don’t believe in me anymore. You always did.

Please tell me that didn’t fade.

I saved you a slice, and your favorite type of moon: blue.

Maybe too poetic?

Sure, as some do not reside in an old soul.

I can agree with you.

Or maybe, we just lost the sense of words and the power they hold when we either type, say or write them.

If we bring back the way of the love letter, we can show that in this age of technology where we have become numb, words can be powerful.

They can make us feel. They can heal.

Orchestrating words to hear their sweet melody can impact more than just those two words, which seem to be exhausted over time.

Give it a try.

Write a love letter to express the love you feel, or reach out to a heart you wounded.