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Photos by Hailey Willett
Dear Guy Who Was Printing Some Work,
You are a kind soul.
In a world where sincerity is scarce and genuineness has been left long ago in the jurassic age of chivalry, I would like to commend you for your simple response to a delicate female heart.
My love for coffee dragged me down to the computer lab of our college dorm hall on a lethargic late-Sunday morning and it was there that my misfortune became a favorable occurrence from the universe. It was there that a printer misfire would not produce my golden ticket to a BOGO offer of free caffeine, and it was there that as I looked down at the table about to utter a word not exactly as sweet as a specialty mocha that I caught sight of your kindhearted letter, penned anonymously.
The damsel in distress, Your Girl, typed to her love interest, The Love of My Life, whom she painfully described to as feeling inadequately about herself — worried that TLOML does not feel the same way about her, the way that she feels about him, and will soon leave for another woman:
Sometimes I just don’t feel good enough for you. I always think that you are going to get tired of me and find someone better… I don’t ever want to lose you.
Your Girl laments that all of her efforts unfortunately ring with the same tone and are answered with silence. It seems that TLOML does not feel the same way as she does. And it’s devastating to the woman who writes that she is “in this together for the long run.”
I feel like my letters are the same all the time. […] Everything you write to me you don’t really tell me anything. Am I good enough? Pretty enough?
But then you, my friend (may I call you that?) — a complete stranger, a class act, a champion of words, a kind soul — reply with a tall, cool drink of wisdom well beyond our college years and infinitely refreshing against the usual signature Millennial snark:
Don’t beat yourself up, I don’t know you but just reading your letter lets me know where [sic] going through the same thing. If you ‘love’ him let him figure out what he wants, just give him time and space. Everything happens for a reason and everything is in God’s hands. Let this time be for you to get yourself better and learn more about you so you can become a better person.
I repeat: Let this time be for you to get yourself better and learn more about you so you can become a better person.
Let this time be where we clink a pair of cappuccino-filled mugs together in unsung praise that you, GWWPSW, are the anonymous hero of this century for Words of Goodwill.
Yes, you aren’t the first to scribe a letter to-a-stranger-from-a-stranger, but by God I hope that you are never, ever the last.
The World Needs More Love Letters is a group that would approve of this ingeniously simple display of kindness toward another human being.
Began in October 2010 by a lonely recent college grad who wrote heartfelt letters to be found randomly by strangers on the New York subway system, as a means of coping with her own depression, sparked a movement that has started to spread like wildfire across the nation, thanks to the catapulting-power of social media — allowing those who happen to stumble upon a letter to showcase them on the group’s Facebook page and blog, which also offers tips on how to create the perfect “love letter” that you too can stow away to be found on a later date by someone who needs to read it most.
You probably weren’t even aware of that, GWWPSW, as your fingers ticked across the keyboard to reach a modest yet worldly conclusion:
Just work on you, work on your securities and grow from them. Learn how to trust more and the only way you can overcome these obstacles is by working on yourself. Hope everything goes good for you
Sincerely, Guy who was printing some work
Well here’s my “love letter” to you, GWWPSW — albeit, not exactly anonymous (spoiler alert): Keep doing what you’re doing, and may you be blessed with good fortune, for we are blessed to have you here at Olivet College spreading the love in a fast-paced world that really could use more of it, even here on our small campus.
I take it that you would react with humility and bashfulness, sheepishly wondering why another complete stranger would ever bother to write you back. Why? Because when someone does something kind, they deserve to be recognized; because in a way, you restored hope in my jaded psyche that there really are people out there, our age, who care about others; and because there should be more people like you in this world.
Sincerely,
Girl Who Was OK With Missing Her Coffee (For Once)
*This is a guest post from Hailey Willett, copy editor for the Echo. To read more of Willett's work, please visit her personal blog, The Old Soul Millennial.