Romeo and Juliet: Star-crossed lovers whose tragic romance became the epitome of doomed love. Antony and Cleopatra: A powerful love entangled in politics and tragedy. Orpheus and Eurydice: A love so deep, it defied even death.
These stories capture the transformative power of love—how it can lift us beyond the ordinary, yet also cast us into the depths of distress. They show us that life, with all its confusion and pain, gains meaning through the connections we forge. The meaning of love and marriage is about having someone who bears witness to your life, someone to share the moments that make it all worthwhile. It’s in having a partner that carries you through the worst of times, in the laughter shared when your great aunt has one too many drinks at Thanksgiving and in the simple comfort of having a companion by your side through it all.
Yet, in our modern world, people have come to fear intimacy more than they fear loneliness. Genuine connection feels distant, overshadowed by the hollow interactions we’ve been trained to seek through screens. So when they said, “This is just for fun,” and made it clear you were merely a game to them, you still took the risk. You chose to experience something real, even if only for a moment, knowing from the start that it was all on borrowed time. You embraced it anyway, allowing yourself to feel something so vivid and real that, suddenly, the world started to light up.
You felt it all slowly start to sear into your very soul. When they enveloped you in their embrace and murmured that you were the one they had been searching for, you felt it deep within you. You gazed up into their deep blue eyes, and for that brief instant, everything felt irrevocably real. How could it not be, when someone’s words and actions stir such emotions? You allowed yourself to believe, if only for a heartbeat, that this could last forever. So when they sang your favorite song under the moonlight, twirling you through the night as if the world beyond ceased to exist, you were convinced—how could anyone be so broken as to walk away from something so intensely real and vividly felt?
But see that’s the heartbreak of our time. In a world saturated with endless options, even something truly golden and real can seem disposable, as if there’s always a brighter, more enticing horizon just out of reach. So when they began to drift away, like sand slipping through your fingers, you didn’t fight it. How could you? Deep within you, you always knew it was never yours to keep. Yet, as they walked away, you slowly stated to wonder, what kind of brokenness drives a person to fear something so genuine and real, in pursuit of something more ordinary and transient?
We exist in a world where nothing ever fully satisfies. Even amid moments of beauty and allure, an insidious shadow lingers—the unending lure of something better, always just out of reach. Always just a click or swipe away. Each rich and enchanting moment is eclipsed by the relentless belief that something more profound lies ahead. In this unyielding pursuit, we risk losing the ability to truly appreciate the depth and beauty of what we now hold.
And so, when you encounter them months later, you’ve learned to play the game, even as it rends you from within. In that familiar coffee shop, filled with the scent of firewood and maple, they pass by with eyes that graze over you like a stranger. The same person who once danced with you beneath the stars, who held your hand and whispered that your eyes were the deepest green—now looks upon you with a cold, indifferent gaze. The warmth that once shone in their eyes has turned to ice, a stark reminder that you were but a fleeting distraction in their world.
You muster a smile, a hollow semblance of warmth, and walk past without a word. Once again, you are strangers, but this time the weight of memories lingers longer than you did. The nights of laughter, the shared dreams and fears—now nothing more than memories hidden deep within you. They move on, and you realize that you are now merely a fragment of their past, a memory destined to fade completely.
In this generation, that’s all we are taught to be—temporary fixtures in each other’s lives, little moments of connection in a world that moves too fast to hold onto anything real. We are conditioned to perceive nothing as wholly satisfactory, forever chasing the illusion of a superior ideal, even when what we hold is golden and true.
But what this generation has lost is that embracing the vulnerability of heartbreak and forging deep connections, we are offered a rare glimpse into the profound love we encounter in the most timeless tales. I would willingly endure the sharp pangs of heartache if it meant experiencing a love as enduring and transcendent as that which my parents share. I would cherish every ephemeral moment of midnight laughter with my dearest friends, even if it entails the pain of their eventual departure. I choose to delve into the full spectrum of my emotions, whether soaring with joy or sinking into sorrow, for I prefer to live with all its tumult and splendor rather than numb myself to the profound richness of existence.
I would choose every day to be the woman who loves unconditionally and truly, over the man who taught me how deeply broken a person can be. I choose to continue loving and wishing you well, without revenge, but because I am proud of who I am. No revenge because one day, you’ll remember me when you hear a laugh that fills a room. No revenge because rotten fruit falls on its own. No revenge because someday, when you care deeply about someone who treats you as disposable, you’ll feel it just as deeply. No revenge because you, too, will face the emptiness you left behind. No revenge because who you are is enough. I will continue to live passionately and love fiercely, and to live a life of deep fulfillment, rather than ever becoming the hollow shell of a human that you are.Â
In a world often marred by disorder and harshness, the ability to feel profoundly is both a precious rarity and a poignant challenge. While many drift through life with muted emotions, those who delve into their inner depths uncover profound beauty in the smallest moments—each poem, each fleeting glance becomes a vessel for stirring the soul. In a sea of indifference, the ability to feel so intensely reveals the raw, unfiltered essence of our existence, making each heartache a powerful affirmation of a life fully lived.