Dai Dhuit Lili,

I'm Ireland, and I want to ask you something about your brother. Why does he

have a heart? He treats you the way a brother should treat a sister while my

ex brother England who adopted me treated me like dirt since he colonized my

biological brother and I. Well, my biological brother also hates him yet he

has no desire to leave for some reason. I just feel as if he's so opposite

compared to your brother. Yours gave you food when you were hungry, mine let

me starve and took more away. Yours never let you get hurt or killed in

anyway shape or form, mine left my people in France after the 9 years war and

refused for them to return home to add insult to injury before that Oliver

Cromwell was released on my people and over half a million Irish folk were

killed. Yours remained neutral in WW2 mine went to war and eventually Dublin

was bombed by the Germans. I just want to know why you have to be the lucky

one while I was left with a monster for a brother.

Love,

Maureen McNeil *Republic of Ireland*

..

Dear Maureen,

Your letter touched me so much, I was tearing up reading the entire thing! I'm so sorry for your circumstances! To respond to your thoughts, I didn't ask to get a great brother, just as you didn't ask for a not-so-great one. That's just how life is. Maybe something or someone to help you out of your troubles just hasn't arrived in your life yet. Switzerland didn't find me until I was nearly dead, almost dissolving from existence. Maybe a light will be at the end of your tunnel. You never know! I know how hard life can be sometimes, but in order to see the good that is to come you've just got to tough out the worst of it.

I hope I was able to help even a little bit. If you ever need to talk again, I'm here to listen, mädchen.

Lots of love from the Alps,

Lili