Heartbreak

I've been reading "Letters to Jackie" and "Wuthering Heights" at the same time. Both deal with heartbreak. One is the heartbreak of a nation and the other is the heartbreak of normal people. If you look under the surface, heartbreak isn't just about loss. It's about desire and the right we humans believe we have to desire.
Not only do we think we deserve to have what we yearn for we don't understand why we aren't allowed to have it and that is heartbreak.
Sometimes it happens just a bit at a time. Our hearts get chipped at so slowly that we can't even feel it until more than half of it has been cracked. Other times, it's an instantaneous shatter. Yet, we never have control over it and that's another thing humans had, loss of control. When we lose control, our hearts break. We are unable to control what we desire and what we are granted out of our desires.
Heartbreak is selfish. It's our selfish need to get everything we want. But we are selfish creatures, whether we've been shaped this way or are naturally this way is up for debate but we are selfish. Selfishness allows us to survive. We feed ourselves and our families first before everyone else so that we can survive.
While reading "Letters to Jackie" I have been deeply moved by the expressions of grief Jackie Kennedy received after her husband died. Yet, these letters have a similar element, selfishness. These Americans all needed to express themselves and many ask that the First Lady read the letter herself because they feel their words are that important. It isn't necessarily bad but it is very interesting. Their personal heartbreak over the loss of their President gives them a desire to unburden their grief by reaching out to the most grief stricken of all Americans.
I wonder if these letters helped Jacqueline Kennedy or just made the pain worse. I wonder if she found solace in knowing that the entire country grieved with her or if it angered her that all these people assumed to know how she felt. Yes, they had lost a President but she had lost a President and a husband.
Everyone's heart was shattered that day. I wonder if one heartbreak can be more important than another or if they are all weighed the same way.