Dear Rosemary,
You may not know who I am, but the Giver told me many wonderful characteristics about you. I am aware that you were the last Receiver in training before me and I wish that I could meet you in person. I also know that meeting you is not possible, so I decide to write you a letter discussing the training you had and also a bit about the outside world. First I would like to mention something the Giver quickly said to me. He had said that you applied for release because all the memories were too much for you to take on. I just wanted to tell you that it was almost the same for me. Once you were released, the rule that said I may not apply for released was added to the list of rules. I could also no longer take it and as I said, I may not apply for release, so I was forced to flee (Page 163). I don’t know whether the Giver gave you the memory of love or not, but that was the one feeling that drove me on to leave. Rosemary, there could be love (Page 129). I had to go and find the place where they had that warm feeling of love. It was horribly terrifying to leave, but at the same time it was fulfilling! I know it might sound quite easy to leave a town where there is no feeling or anything that can fill that emptiness caused by no feeling. But it’s not. As you probably know, if you escape, once you are gone, you can never return. Those words haunted me a bit, but there was one more thing holding me back from escaping. That one person that held me back, encouraged me to go, but I didn’t want to leave him with all the pain. That one person was your father, Rosemary. In other words, he was called the Giver. He was the one person that I knew felt emotions for me. He loved me the same way he loved you. I know what love means now and I think I feel love for him too. I have learned that love is so meaningful to a person and my community has decided to let that go. I see him every day with grief in his eyes and I know how much he suffers. I felt the same way and wanted to escape from the community and I just knew he wanted to leave too. But you father is a good man and cares about his people. He stayed to help them. But I left…
I also wanted to talk to you a bit about what I have learned from the community and from your father. The Giver was there for me and I realized he wanted the best for me. He considered my feelings and I learned that I had feelings too, thanks to your father. I never noticed how empty life in the community was until I became the Receiver in training. I’m sure you never knew so many things about the world either until you were also selected for the job. I was almost like you, I was so overwhelmed with the painful memories, but I was able to see the bright memories. I learned that love and feelings in general mean so much in life. The Giver and I shared feelings with each other for almost a year (Page 154). It was the most meaningful year of my life. I learned what feeling actually is and how the build a life. I left to find that life. It was a tough journey to, where you call, Elsewhere. Rosemary, I made it there! I found that world. I only wish you could be here with me right now to experience a really life and world. It’s nothing like the community. I mean, yes we have pain, but there are so many great feelings here too. I’m sure you would love it here. I now know that the old community had chosen to push away something that completed the world. Feelings and color and life were always there, we just never realized how much they meant to us.
So I am writing to you now from my perfect world. I just wanted to let you know that there is still a fulfilling world out there. I wish you would have lived to see this…
Sincerely, Jonas
