Hello Beautiful People,
There are three things I know to be true –
- This world needs more love.
- This world needs more love letters.
- This world needs more souls like Hannah Brencher.
I suppose the only way to describe the way I met Hannah is…kismet. Fate. Luck.
But the longer version is thus:
I’m a writer, a director, producer, and a teacher. And, at one point in my life, I taught English to at risk youth. Needless to say I did not teach the typical English curriculum. One of the books that I did teach was the novel Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher.
For those of you who don’t know what the novel is about, Thirteen Reasons Why is a novel that centers on two teenagers, Clay Jenson and Hannah Baker. Hannah committed suicide, and she has thirteen reasons why. Her reasons are recorded on a series of tapes, which were mailed to a select group of people, one of them being Clay. I don’t even want to get into the semantics of the book, because I’d hate to spoil it for those who have yet to read it!
Thirteen Reasons Why touched my soul, and I have no doubt it has that same effect for all of its readers. It’s a reminder of how fragile the human heart can be, especially the hearts of teenagers. I see it as a teacher, the students who are just searching for someone or something to make them feel important, to make them feel special, to make them feel and know that they are loved. High school can be tough terrain, and it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.
I don’t think there’s a person out there who hasn’t had a friend disappoint them, experienced heartbreak, and/or felt completely lost. This book is an enormous reminder that we all have low points, and we all need someone to lean on.
The day I finished the novel, I came across another girl named Hannah. I was doing some research for my classes and writing projects, and I stumbled across the website, The World Needs More Love Letters, and its founder, Hannah Brencher.
The World Needs More Love Letters started in October of 2010, on the four train in New York City. Hannah, a new NYC resident, was feeling rather lost, rather jumbled, and alone amongst the hustle and bustle of the big apple. Her loneliness was mirrored in her fellow passengers on the 4 train, and so, she began to write letters to cheer people up. She left them on the subways, in libraries, and all around NYC. Brencher says that it healed her, and I have no doubt that it brought a smile to the hundreds of people who have received the letters of this truly remarkable organization.
Since that day that I stumbled upon Hannah on the inter webs – I’ve had the privilege & honor of meeting her. Of sharing a meal with her. Of brew sessions. Of friendly texts and encouraging emails and all sorts of thing s that have made this phenomenal woman become more than wisdom on a screen.
She has inspired me.
She has inspired others.
And now…well, she’s written a book.
I’m not sure what to say about If You Find This Letter.
How do you describe the words of a poet? A master storyteller? A visionary beyond their years?
No, really — HOW does one do that? Cause I haven’t got the slightest clue.
But hey, I’d be disappointing the great hb if I didn’t at least try. So here goes nothing…
I think that this book will become a mantra for younger generations. Present generations. I think that this book will become the type of book that people write in, reference, and highlight. It’ll be the tattered book sitting proudly on a bookshelf, sitting quietly like a faithful friend — ready to be cracked open at the moment when you need it the most.
And you will need it.
That much I promise.
Cause Hannah, well, she so beautifully expresses the things that so many of us feel, but are unable to articulate.
Hannah, well, she finds a way to make the words we say aloud into the dark…beautiful. Memorable. Worthy.
And the older I get, the more I realize that the one thing that binds us all together as people is that we all want to be worthy. We all want to feel loved.
(OK, that was two, but I never said math was my strong suit.)
Here’s the official book blurb for If You Find This Letter:
A heartwarming memoir of love and faith from Hannah Brencher—founder of The World Needs More Love Letters—who has dedicated her life to showing total strangers that they are not alone in the world.
Fresh out of college, Hannah Brencher moved to New York, expecting her life to look like a scene from Sex and the City. Instead, she found a city full of people who knew where they were going and what they were doing and didn’t have time for a girl still trying to figure it all out. Lonely and depressed, she noticed a woman who looked like she felt the same way on the subway. Hannah did something strange—she wrote the woman a letter. She folded it, scribbled “If you find this letter, it’s for you…” on the front and left it behind.
When she realized that it made her feel better, she started writing and leaving love notes all over the city—in doctor’s offices, in coat pockets, in library books, in bathroom stalls. Feeling crushed within a culture that only felt like connecting on a screen, she poured her heart out to complete strangers. She found solace in the idea that her words might brighten someone’s day.
Hannah’s project took on a life of its own when she made an offer on her blog: She would handwrite a note and mail it to anyone who wanted one. Overnight, her inbox exploded with requests from people all over the world. Nearly 400 handwritten letters later, she started the website, The World Needs More Love Letters, which quickly grew.
There is something about receiving a handwritten note that is so powerful in today’s digital era. If You Find This Letter chronicles Hannah’s attempts to bring more love into the world—and shows how she rediscovered her faith through the movement she started.
Here’s what I think you should know about If You Find This Letter:
This book will make you cry. It will make you cry in a way that is cathartic, in a way that is beautiful, in a way that is ugly and messy and sloppy…but most importantly, in a way that is real. There is no pretense, no scripted drama, no pomp and circumstance — for it is a story of raw, true, beautiful emotion. It is a story of growing, of loving, and of giving.
Depression hits so many of us. And when it does, it hurts. It hurts in a way that cheesy antidepressant commercials will never be able to eloquently express. It hurts in a way that weighs down your soul and hurts your bones and leaves the tear ducts on in your eyeballs for way too long. It hurts in a way that makes you feel as though you cannot breathe – it hurts in a way that makes you feel like the weight of the world is pressing on your shoulders and at your chest. It hurts in a way that makes it feel like the cloak of darkness will never lift itself from your body, and the only alternative is sleep. Cause sometimes, it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
And I promise you all that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
And I promise you all that you are not alone in this fight against sadness.
There are people out there who understand. There are people out there who will lift you up. There are people out there whose words will reach into the inner crevices of your heart — and pull out all the light that truly does exist within you.
Hannah is one of those people.
If You Find This Letter is a culmination of those words. Words that will lift you up. Words that will make you cry. Words that will ignite the fire of goodness that exists within each and every one of you.
It’s a must read for…well, everyone. I don’t care what age you are. I don’t care what your sex is. What your religion is. What your economic status is. What your sexual orientation is. What your race is.
If You Find This Letter…well, it’s the book of people. The book of a new era.
If You Find This Letter…well, it’s the book of now.
I am going to give away my own copy of If You Find This Letter. Because words like these, well, they’re meant to be shared.
Here’s how you’ll win:
Tweet or Insta post about this contest, using a picture of #IfYouFindThisLetter. TAG @HannahBrencher. @TheWriteTeach. @MeganMinutillo.
AND
Send me your story of inspiration. Here at thewriteteachers.com, we call them a teachsperience. I want to know how words & art have made you into the person that you are today. I want to know what writers & singers & actors & movers and shakers have inspired you to be the best person you can be.
EMAIL your teachsperience to megan@thewriteteachers.com.
The chosen piece will be posted in our GUEST POSTIN’ category.
Submissions close THIS FRIDAY, 3/27. So get writin’ – ya hear?
Live, Love, Learn,