From a friend

A touching epistle from a friend, student and classmate back at Rutgers:

"Distance is indeed the great divider, and although the saying may go that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" I highly doubt that this is truely the case.

It is not however, the distance measured between two points on a map that determines the intimacy of people, but the distance between two hearts. Fondness for someone is found in the memories we hold not in the physical presence of another individual. True physcal presence may build and strengthen the relationship, good time mean more good memories and such. Still it is only the heart that can measure the worth of another intividual in our eyes.

I often find myself melancholy when I realize how distant individuals are from my own heart. Memories that fade, and are difficult if not impossible to recover. The sound of another's voice, or that particular smile that could be shared only at a certain moment under certain circumstances. These things that once rang so clearly in my mind now drift off into a gentle, misty haze to only be seen in glimpses, never fully viewable again.

It is around this time that tears of regret swim in my head. I feel that I do not honor those I loved as I should. The dead, the living, the near to me, the far, even those who I see on a regular basis I do not honor rightly in my heart.

So in this brief and poetic moment of melancholy I honor you. Your beauty and your grace, the angels, the devils, those I've laughed with, lusted for, most importantly those I've lived for and who I'd still die for. Thank you for your moments. And although I'm sure this is simply sappy and ridiculous I thank you anyway, especially those who think this is least to do with them. Be glad that you brighten someones memories however briefly."