dear you,

Today, when you said that you were tired of being sad, I wanted to say, I'm tired of you being sad, too, so chin up, buttercup. I wanted to say, there are so many things to be happy about in this world! I wanted to say, have you ever thought about how amazing it is just to be human -- not to be a rock or a grain of sand or a single cell organism, but a human -- a living, breathing human being, today, right now, on planet Earth? Don't you know what a miracle that is -- what a miracle you are? Why would you ever want to waste that by being sad?

Maybe it's because life is relatively manageable right now, or maybe it's because I've just gotten better at managing it and taking everything in stride instead of freaking out, but I'm pretty happy most of the time. So it hurts me to see other people hurting. I want to make it better, but at the same time, I'm not quite sure how. I always mean to say something: Don't hate yourself. You deserve happiness. I don't know if I love you, but trust me when I say that someone does.

But those are just words. Just silly little words, and they always catch in my throat, and you never quite look at me at the right time, and well, it just never happens.

There are so many things I wish I could tell you, but I also know that sadness can be quite irrational and hard to control, so maybe it's all futile anyway. After all, you can't ever save people. You can only love them. And so maybe all I can really do -- better than any lectures or advice, however well-intentioned -- is just to let you know that you are loved.

love, me

(The crux of this was written a while ago, with a few different people in mind.)