Born in the wrong era? No. There is no wrong era.

a guy likes a girl and the girl likes the guy back.
so they decide to get together.
however, things don't seem to work out.
so the girl tells the guy that it is over.
they had spent a few years together, and for the guy, he even thought he would marry the girl eventually.
unfortuantely, all that came crashing down.
the guy became quite bitter because of this.
he avoids the girl and things that remind him of the time they spent together.
he also hopes that he can forget her and move on.

to him, the years that they had spend together have become a waste.
he wants to have nothing to do with her and is adamant that they will never be together again.

to me, this is sad.
it makes me sad.

things did not work out. but to call the years spent together a waste...
it is precisely in thinking THAT that it really becomes a waste.
the problem, i feel, is that God and His purposes have largely been excluded from the entire episode.

MAYBE
God was using those years to mould the characters of the couple?
MAYBE
God was using the breakup to teach an important reality to the parties involved?
MAYBE
they will still be together in future? to me it is just presumptious and stubborn to insist that they will never be together ever again.

in dismissing all that had happened and in calling it a waste. that's just tragic.
that means the pain was all for nothing!

MAYBE
what God had intended to teach needed nothing less impactful than a painful break up to drive the point home?

consider that.

the times spent together were real.
the joys were real. as were the hurts.
the memories should be cherished.
not discarded.

granted, holding on to an unreasonable hope is not healthy nor wise.
and keeping the memories close to the heart may border precariously on clinging on to a dream that may never be.
but i don't think that automatically means one should severe a part of himself.

that's too easy.
running away is too easy.

grit your teeth through the pain,
face it,
look to God,
and come out holier.

because holiness is more important than happiness.