I recently had the hardest breakup and the worst heartbreak of my life. And, when I looked for some semblance of consolation, I couldn't find any music or movies or books that reflected my pain back to me. The consensus around heartbreak tends to be: Damn, this sucks but at least now it feels like all the music ever written was written for and about me—right now in this exact moment. But not this time. I had a hard time expressing how much pain I was in; there was no cultural language for it. This particular breakup was with my best friend.
Even though the pain of losing a friend—and losing the part of yourself that you grew used to having reflected back through that friend—is something we all go through, we have no significant recognition of that loss culturally. Why is that? Why do we universally understand romantic heartbreak to be akin to an actual physical wound, but the heartbreak that comes with platonic loss is swept under the rug, almost entirely disregarded? I don't propose I have the answers to these questions, I just feel I am not the only one who is wondering them...
~khe
