Reply To: Unsent Letters

Princess: Your letter nearly moved me to tears. You seem to be such a warm, caring person with deep insight. Somebody I’d love to meet.:)

I’m a counselor at daycamp and as I mentioned before, there’s a girl who has a pretty close relationship with a boy. I ended up having a private talk about it. I wrote the following unsent letter to her:

Dearest Sarah,

I should’ve written some time ago but I couldn’t muster up the courage to do so. I’ve pushed it toward the far end of my mind and tried hard not to think about it. But today, I’ve been overcome by an urge to write. I’m not sure I’ll ever send this letter to you. I might talk to you straight to face, or perhaps do nothing about it. But now, I’m writing to calm my frenzied nerves.

Sarah, when you see me everyday at daycamp, what do you think of me? You probably see my frum levush and think, “this kid knows little about what’s goin’ on in the outside world.”

Well, unfortunately, it’s not quite so. Life isn’t as simple as it seems. My lifestory is pretty sad and would probably surprise you. But Baruch Hashem, I’ve overcome many obstacles and I’m presently on stable ground.

Life has taught me an important lesson: Whatever you do, however small and petty it may seem at the moment, has a MAJOR impact on you. This is NOT something to toy and play around with. You are playing with fire. You are slowly entering a very dangerous zone from which few come out unscathed.

Sarah, I’ve come to warn you. As your counselor and as a friend. I a care about you. I don’t want you to suffer in the coming years. Believe me, it may seem like a lot of fun. But the ramifications, Sarah, are very, very painful. The emotions and feelings are flooding you making you feel like a time bomb about to explode. You feel lost and alone. You just feel like…You’ll never survive. Like your life will always be miserable and sad.

Sarah, please, please. I beg you from the bottom of my heart: prevent this from happening!

Cut off your friendship with him. Hey, that’s so easy to write out. But it’s hard. I know. Sarah, in my life I’ve made many decisions. Believe me, they were hard. Torture. But I’m still grateful today that I’ve done the right thing.

I’m not sure which parts of the letter you understood now and what you’ll understand in years to come. Life’s full of surprises and hardship. Why bring more pain unto yourself?

I hope and daven that you should never know of any pain or sorrow.

Wishing you hatzlacha in whatever you do,

Yours forever,

Observanteen