23 Comments

Oh, Elissa, beautifully put. I agree with every word. Thank you for writing this.

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

Absolutely the best piece of writing I have seen on this subject so far. So wise.

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

So glad you get to spend two weeks in that lovely place. Thank you for being a compassionate critic of Harry's memoir. I agree he seems to be desperate to make sense of the nonsensical. That he's doing it in public . . . appropriate, perhaps, given he didn't have a choice about having to live his life there?

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

This makes such an important point (or several). I also thought the Anderson Cooper interview was very genuine. Unfortunately, most of the world will only *receive* Harry as a celebrity, so the finer points of what he has to say get lost in the sensationalist excerpts.

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Hello, Elissa, your piece is very insightful, and I think it deserves a much wider audience. I've read many pieces on "Spare", and this is one of the few that actually has something worth reading. It should be a major newspaper.

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

As always, Elissa, you are the person I turn to for compassionate wisdom. You so mindfully sift through the stories and experiences we all carry and teach us lessons we all need to learn. Thank you.

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So beautifully written, Elissa! ❤️

Friends frequently suggest I should write a memoir. I have no desire to do that. Reading your article clarified for me why I have no need to!

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

What a beautiful piece -- but I feel it's missing a final paragraph. What is your opinion -- does profound grief justify revenge writing, with all its consequences?

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Jan 12, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

such a lovely piece....

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sorrow is the great leveller, indeed. xo

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Beautiful writing and very insightful. I also love Mary Karr’s advice to wait 5-7 years after any traumatic event before writing a memoir or speaking on something (publically... which would be hard for Harry) as this is how long it takes for the anger to cool and our emotions to soften.

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

I'm 68 years old; time to write the memoir if I'm ever going to. Having just read your article, the doubts that prevent my beginning to come up again: on one hand, I'd like to leave my memoirs to my children; it's been a rich and varied life. On the other, there's the ethical issue: how far can I dig into family history without betraying the trust of the living - and the dead? I'm not expecting an answer, here. I'll have to reach my own conclusions. But thank you.

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

Thank you for this beautiful piece! And for helping humanize this young man that has gone through so much. Grief is a deeply private process... for his to have been so public is not only a terrible shame but devastatingly cruel. My heart goes out to him.

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

This is so good and ties in with things I have been working on in myself. Your work on permission has me thinking about what my own stories and their transmission. And you are so right about Prince Harry—there is so much grief and loss there.

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Beautifully said.

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Jan 11, 2023Liked by Elissa Altman

Amen. Your writing is amazingly clear and very precise. Thank you for using your hard-won talent to enlighten. I wish I could travel to just sit in on one of your workshops.

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