“‘A Note for You’ started as a spur-of-the-moment idea with a friend of mine. Before beginning this project, I had my fair share of hardships in navigating relationships. The idea was originally my friend’s in August of 2020. She had something similar in mind but felt like it was too much of a hassle considering the number of responses that might come out of it. I volunteered to help in sending the responses, regardless of how many there might be, but it didn’t work out.

Around the same time, my peers really pushed me into pursuing the same. I was too caught up in my recent breakup, yearning for normalization. However, my friends told me to channel the sadness into doing something I love. “A Note for You” seemed like the perfect idea at that point in time, to get lost in the sorrow and do whatever I felt like. I believe if you do something good, good will come to you.

The number of replies I received was little to nothing at first however, slowly but surely, they increased. Just a day later and they were up to 150, if I recall correctly. I’m now sitting at about 4000 of these notes sent. It blows my mind how a simple anonymous note sending system united the student body. Even today, they call the notes “Saad Aleem notes,” a branding that I didn’t think I’d receive at all.

But with any good thing in this world there comes some form of misuse, and this note sending system has its downsides as well. However, we must remember that criticism is everywhere, even for the things we see as most pure. Take for instance the Quran, what some people also use to justify terrorism. Or say technology, some people use it to save lives and some people use it to take lives. What makes anything good or bad is how you use it.”