A Letter

[June 12, 2022. This is my response to a letter from a bright young student attending an Ivy League university in the Fall of 2022.]

My name is Umme Quoraishee. I am a member of the KIP Center. I have received a letter written by you through the KIP Center. I find it very interesting, and glad that I have this opportunity to communicate with you.

From your letter, I get the impression of an intelligent young individual with a great outlook.You are from a great family, an excellent student soon attending Penn State University, and athletic. In my opinion, these are the right ingredients that help to develop young individuals with healthy and positive attitudes. You are on the right track.

You mentioned a quote from the book Tuesdays with Morrie, Love is the only rational act, and wondered, is love truly a rational act that can affect someone’s life greatly? I will share my thoughts and understanding of love and include some great quotes below.

I believe the concept of ‘Love’ is a feeling of connection that all living beings have been seeking, expressing, or experiencing in some form or shape since the beginning of time. People define it in many different ways and will continue to do so till eternity. The mystics may say it is a divine realization, poets and the storytellers say it is a matter of heart, and doctors say something else. I think it is a combination of boundless dreams and imagination. It comes in all different flavors, such as caring for others, sharing good times and bad, saying kind words, laughing together, etc.. Possibilities and options are endless. We experience its beauty and mystery in unique ways. Here are some quotes from the great philosopher and poet, Rumi.

• “Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.”
• “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
• “Love is the bridge between you and everything
• “Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there.”
• “Let the beauty we love be what we do.”
• “Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.”

My personal favorite : “Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”

Kim, I wish you the very best. Good luck with your school and everything else you do.