Correspondence 2

(For a newer draft of this letter within the completed series of letters, click here.)

Dear Alan,

If there is a thorn that has stuck in your side for five years, then no other human has put it there. I can assure you that--whatever its origin--my forgiveness will not help the pain of it abate. All the same, you have what I can give you--though it has never been enough.
Rest assured, you have neither upset me nor been forgotten by me. I think fondly of you when I smell curry and otherwise do not think of you. Along the way, I have learned it is best to internalize general principals and universal truths and let the unseemly details fall away.
While I am saddened to hear you're haunted, I must admit I think it's fair. There is so little fairness here that to be graced by feelings befitting your past bodes well for you. As you suggested in your letter, few people have been so blessed as to have clarity on who they are and the painful truths of what they have done wrong. Although I can forgive you for what you've done, I cannot forgive you for what you are. You'll need to take that up with someone else.
In regards to interrupting me, you need not fret. I usually have the time to write letters and generally try to make the time to be of service.

Sophia