Of all the things a person can do to another person’s pain, I know that none is worse than romanticizing it. Sometimes I fear I love her like one loves a baby bird with a broken wing, and I utterly hate myself for it. There is nothing beautiful about the darkness that swallows her whole. I think it might actually be the only thing about her that isn’t at least a little bit beautiful.

I have no idea why this ugly, twisted poison has burrowed itself into her soul, but it certainly isn’t so that I have something to save her from. So as tonight beats on and all the roads blend together and the radio hovers between static and song, I'll keep that with me. An order or a reminder, I don't quite know, but I won't let it fade away from the front of my mind. All night it will loop there, over and over: love her not for her brokenness but in spite of it.

13 comments add comment

  • anonymous lover
8 years ago

I really hope that management puts this letter right on the front page, even if it does not get the one hundred gazillion votes that it deserves.

This is beautifully thought-out, empathic, and extraordinarily well and articulately written!

Raj Kumari

  • E
8 years ago

Wonderful.

  • anonymous lover
8 years ago

I needed to remember people can love broken people. Thank you.

  • anonymous lover
8 years ago

I need to remember this.

  • Jasper
8 years ago

this really hit home for me, thank you

  • 17
8 years ago

Thank you.

  • mj
8 years ago

Beautiful letter.

I've always found myself drawn to the ones who are a bit broken, who need help mending themselves. It's ok to love someone who is broken inside. It makes it all that more beautiful to be the one who helps them become whole again, and to see them smile at you when they become free of the things that once held them down.

  • Jasper
7 years ago

@mj, sometimes you can't make them whole again, sometimes they'll never be. i don't think it's right to love someone knowing that you're expecting to fix them in some way because that's not always possible. sometimes, the best you can do is make it better occasionally.

  • Y
7 years ago

This almost gave me hope

  • anonymous lover
7 years ago

@mj,

I very much agree with the above poster. Not only because you can't fix them, nobody can, but themselves. People can help along the way and give encouragement and ideas, but ultimately it is up to them, even if they're problems stem from something physical or something that happened to them.

And also, the really broken ones who won't get help, and by the time you know how bad it is, you are already deeply in love with them...they will break you. And it will take so long to get yourself back into a shape that is even close to what you remember of yourself.

As a former fixaholic, I know there are some mistakes that we have to go through to learn for ourselves, but I hope that you can learn from mine, and spare yourself a similar situation.

Raj Kumari

  • anonymous lover
7 years ago

This is the most beautiful sad letter I have read ;(

  • anonymous lover
7 years ago

this is gorgeous, and I am glad that the Op recognizes that they can't fix this girl. They know they can't fix her and they don't want to try, they just want to love her anyway. And that is such a pure and beautiful thing. I think that maybe, hopefully, the Op can be the rock this girl needs to heal herself.

  • hopeless romantic
7 years ago

wow this is truly beautiful; she's a lucky girl to have someone like you around <3

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