CHAIN MAIL (as in Letters, not armour) AND WHY I DON'T DO THEM...

Earlier this evening, I received the following chain mail on my wall:

If this doesn't touch you.....you're heartless. One night a guy & a girl were driving home from the movies.The boy sensed there was something wrong because of painful silence they shared between them that night. The girl then asked the boy 2 pull over because she wanted 2 talk. She told him that her feelings have changed & that it was........................ time 2 move on. A silent tear slid down his cheek as he slowly reached into his pocket & passed her a folded note. At that moment, a drunk driver was speeding down that very same street. He swerved right into the drivers seat, killing the boy. Miraculously, the girl survived. Remembering the note she pulled it out & read it. "Without your love, I would die." If u send this 2 10ppl in 5 minutes someone special will txt or call you. If you don't send this 2 10people your worst week starts tomorrow

(don't believe in chain mails but this was something i had to show others)

And I immediately deleted it.  I guess this makes me heartless, and I'll be facing the worse week ever starting tomorrow.  So for those who may think this is the case about me, I would like to do a little bit of analysis on this "heartwrenching" story.

1.  It's a story.  Period.  There isn't a shred of truth in this - no names, no locations, no newspaper cited that ran the article - nothing.  It's meant to get a knee-jerk reaction without any thought whatsoever.  I'm not saying this scenerio may not happen, or hasn't happened, I am saying that for the purposes of this chain letter, it's just a story.

2.  Now let's look at the boy's reaction.  How convenient that he had that little piece of paper all ready for just this occasion!  "Without your love, I would die."  I've lived long enough to recognize this not as a declaration of love, but of manipulation, control, and power over the girl.  It was designed to guilt her into reconsidering her decision.  Statements like this, from either gender, are just that - tools of manipulation.

3.  And coincidentily he is instantly killed by a drunk driver.  Put yourself in the girl's place (if this indeed has happened) who now has to live with a life-long weight of hopeless guilt, being sure that she was the cause of her boyfriend's death.
Phahhh!

So what is this chain letter trying to evoke here?  What exactly is it trying to do?  The knee-jerk reaction is probably what most people would feel, "Aw, how awful!!  How awful!!" but what is it that they're feeling so awful about?  The fact that there was a drunk driver on the road?  The fact that the girl decided it was time to move on?  The fact that the boy had already planned to guilt the girl into staying with him?

Remember, it's just a story.  What exactly are you supposed to feel?

And then to finish it off with a threat of dire consequences if you don't spread this dribble further?  That is just too much!

So I guess this makes me doubly heartless.