Blog Post #4 - A Letter to a 14-Year-Old

HelloGiggles is a blog I check out quite often. It was created by 3 young women, Zooey Dechanel (who most of you will probably recognize, because she is AMAZING), Sophie Rossi and Molly Mcaleer.  As long as you use your real name, anyone can join this network, post and contribute. It is focused on supporting a female audience so "visitors need not worry about finding the standard Boys Club content that makes many entertainment sites unappealing to so many of us." Not saying that guys aren't welcome though.  There are several sections that you can post under, including treats for food, beauty for fashion and health tips, entertainment and many more.

While browsing I came across this letter written by Amy S. Foster. It is addressed "Dear 14-year-old,". From reading the letter you can tell she is addressing a particular 14-year-old, her daughter. But she mentions no specifics or names, making this a letter that anyone at any point can read, or give to a 14-year-old in their life and most likely it will be relatable.

And I can't even explain it (well actually, I am a very sentimental, emotional girl, so that might explain it) but I began to tear up when reading the letter. Passages like the one bellow just pull your heart strings you know?

" It is true that everyone has a story, and everyone’s story is unique, but loss, pain, anger, confusion and sadness are universal. These feelings don’t separate you from the world, but rather they bind you closer to it. Someone out there is feeling the exact same way you do right now, including me, my dearest girl, and I am only a few feet away. There will never be and can never be another you, but you are part of a magnificent community of humans. Humanity at times can be brutal and petty and mean-spirited, but that’s never an excuse for you to be that way. You are so much more and so much better than a bad day. "

You don't have to be 14 to be going through a point in life that these are the words that you might need to hear in a particular situation. Throughout the whole letter, it invokes nostalgia looking back at me and my mothers relationship 6 years ago. To another reader it could evoke feelings of what they are going through right now with their own mother figure, or even a daughter or son figure in their lives.

Everyone can relate because, they were once 14, they wen't to gr.8 and they know exactly what it was like. Even if everyones experiences are different, people can all relate to the brutal reality of teenage hardships.