Losing a Best Friend

question_quest
Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:28:56 +0000

I wrote an essay on the subject. Here’s an excerpt



When you break up with a boyfriend, colloquial speech often refers to a “broken heart”—even though we know, of course, that having someone cheat on you does not cause the coronary arteries to split in two. However, talk to anyone who’s had a bad break-up, and they will support the idea of “broken heart,” the idea that splitting up with someone who you once loved (and perhaps still do) hurts, right down to the core. But, of course, there is more than one kind of “love”–people love not just their significant others, but also their parents, their children, their other relatives, and their platonic friends. These kinds of love are different, of course, and not all equal, but they all have some truth, some meaning, some weight in the human world. So, maybe when your boyfriend breaks up with you, your heart breaks. Maybe when your best friend breaks up with you, it is your soul that takes the blow instead.