There is a deeper meaning for why you said no to proposal

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Valentine's Day was a disaster. My boyfriend thought we were celebrating big time. He presented me with a ring in front of our friends at a restaurant and I had to put my arms quickly around his neck, and whisper, "I'm sorry, I'm not ready yet." I gave him the ring back. I could see the tears. He took off out the door without paying. I felt so guilty I paid for his dinner.

My friends were so embarrassed for the both of us, they went home as soon as they could drain their drinks. I phoned him when I got home and all he said was, "You said you loved me, and I thought love led to a marriage commitment. Obviously, they were just words to you." We haven't spoken since. The thing is, I don't know what I want. I only wish he had asked me privately instead of creating this public scene that compounded his embarrassment when I said no. By the way, the ring was beautiful.

— Miserable Now, Fort Rouge

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I just read the letter from “Scared to Snitch” and have some comments. The mother-in-law who gambles is an adult with a decent income. Nowhere does the letter say her gambling is causing her problems.

If that is the way she wants to spend her time, using her money, and it’s not impacting her life, what about letting it be? She’s an adult making her own decisions.

Options? Have a conversation with her, and ask, “Why those tears at the thought of others knowing?” That may be an opening to explore things more deeply. Why is she fearful?

I’m speaking from experience, having had a loved one deep into the addiction, which caused obvious and big consequences.

Another October coming up, and still the Nobel Peace Prize Committee refuses to give Donald Trump his prize. They even gave one to Barak Obama, who was Black and a Democrat and had only been in office for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, they ignore a man truly worthy of the prize, a man who ended eight wars last year alone. (He said so himself.)

Unfortunately the prize committee has a long record of backing the wrong person.

They gave it to Aung Sang Suu Kyi of Myanmar, who defended the Rohingya genocide: “I don’t think there is ethnic cleansing going on,” she said.

They gave it to former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who ordered the secret carpet-bombing of Cambodia: “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.”