| Unsent Letters > The Gift of Catharsis | |
| The Gift of Catharsis |
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| As living beings we accumulate tension and grief. It’s unavoidable. We deny ourselves an outlet for some of the things we really need to say. To spare the feelings of our family we don’t tell them how much they hurt us. To save our relationships we don’t tell our partners when we have been wronged. We actively discourage honesty because, in many situations, honesty isn’t what we want to hear. We want the pretty fiction. We want to think everything is okay. We want to get back to the feeling of normal, and we don’t think in the moment about how carrying the burden of words left unspoken will exact a heavy toll later. We push the negative down deep inside us and move on. Sometimes we experience loss and never get the chance to say those words that we really needed to say to experience closure. We don’t live in an open society; we live by a code of rules and simply talk about openness as an ideal. Most of us won’t speak out against the government, even when we know that things really aren’t okay. We’re broken. We don’t speak to everything that we see around us that is unjust, we leave it to others. In some cases it’s out of fear, in others it’s a feeling of complete futility. Regardless of the cause, we stay silent. We don’t all feel the same way about spirituality. Some of us have a deep and profound sense of our place in creation but still have a separation with the Creator – whomever or whatever the Creator may be. Yet we place ourselves in identical boxes called religion and worship the same way our neighbor does, speak to our faith in the same voice, observe the same forms and rituals. But do we ever share our thoughts with the focus of our worship? When we pray… do we simply ask for something better? Do we ever really ask for answers, even when we rationally know that it isn’t really that easy? Do we ever simply speak, without asking, to all those things that make it hard to have faith in a world that is getting harder and harder to live in? This project is about saying all those things we don’t allow ourselves to say or simply haven’t had the chance. Relationships end and we don’t tell each other what needed to be said. Elected officials commit acts we feel are fundamentally wrong and we never say a word. We never challenge our faith or tell the focus of our worship how we really feel. Don’t you wish you could? This project is about catharsis, beginning the healing process and moving forward. Shedding grief, anger, and words left unsaid. A chance to tell someone, anyone, what you’ve always wished you could say but never had the chance. It doesn’t matter if they are living or dead. It doesn’t matter if they are a friend, father, lover, stranger, or God. This is an opportunity to say the words, to let your thoughts and feelings take flight, and move forward. Even if you simply want to rant on the topic of your choosing – this is your chance. |