Love Letters of Great Men

Nothing could make your day more than receiving a package, from somewhere that is thousand of miles away, especially in this time and day. I feel like my entire generation has grown to take for granted how lucky they are to be equipped with all types of technology. My sister can talk for her boyfriend three hours a day, three times a day, everyday a week. It doesn't even seem like they are separated by half the world at all. My friend from the US and I can stay on Skype for hours, watching movies together using the "share screen" thing.

Times like these, to get a single card in the mail is enough to make me jump for joy. Imagine how it was for me to get an entire package sent to South Africa, not to mention the package contains a little bit of heaven - the entire collection of all the books written by Candace Bushnell: the original "Sex and the City", the first prequel "Carrie's Diaries" and the latest prequel "Summer in the City" along with a handmade collage. I felt like I was high on cocaine (not that I've ever tried it, but should be somehow similar).

I know I have always been a little bit more than obsessed with Sex and the City and almost no month goes by without me re-watch at least one episode of the show, or one of the movies. However, this week feels like my Sex and the City jackpot week. My friends wanted to stop by the grocery store at the mall to get some snacks before we hit the bowling alley and the casino. Out of the blue, I decided to check out the bookstore, and I saw it. In front of me, on the Winter Sale section, 50% off, was the book that I had been searching for ages, the one that Amazon kept flashing the sign "out of stock" on my screen - "Love Letters of Great Men". Ever since I saw the scene the book on Carrie's hand, in the summer of 2008, I knew I wanted that book. Unfortunately, the book never existed, until another thousands of fans like me went searching for it. A year after the movie came out, they published the collection, with the footnote "inspired by the movie Sex and the City". Why they haven't thought of this later, I have no idea.

My head was in the cloud and my feet was NOT on the ground that afternoon. I bailed out early on the casino night, anticipating that it would turn out to be a long night of drinking and clubbing on Long Street, to head home and indulge myself in the love of the greatest men on Earth.

True, these letters were written in an incredibly old-fashioned way and were not the easiest thing to digest. I don’t know about the ladies back then, but for me, these had to be read in a slowly, word-by-word way so that my mind can break down all the meanings, and after that, I can have enough time to let every words sink in my heart. I decided that since the ladies could only receive one letter every few months, I shouldn't go for more than one or two per day. I couldn't help but cheat and turn to the letter read by Carrie in the movie - written by Beethoven to his "Immortal Beloved".

"Ever thine, ever mine, ever ours."

From the movie (apparently they cut out some parts of the real letter)

Every time I read this line, I feel like there is this beautiful sentiment hanging in the air, and actually give me this feeling of everlasting. There is no "I love you forever", no "I will be with you until my last breath", nothing of that sort. Yet the love is there, and the timelessness is there.

Mr. Big has told Carrie: "These guys had to write. They were separated from their loves by wars and hundreds of miles. I'm right here."

True. I forgot. We don't need those anymore. Even with the distance, we've got Gmail, AIM, Facebook, AT&T, and Skype. Don't get me wrong, there's no one who could appreciate technology more than I do. I mean, I'm typing on a laptop and about to post this on my blog for god's sake. However, to the point that even writers, novelists, lyricists nowadays don't care about how they use the language anymore? Shakespeare plays along with many classic novels are hated to the core because no one could understand what they try to say. Because people actually have to think about the language. Because there are actually meanings behind every sentence, every word, or every punctuation. 

However, sometimes I just wish I could go back to the time when a letter means so much. I wish I could live in the moment when words are not overused and each and every single of them has so much meaning they could shake you to the core.

It is because the people could only send a few thousand words over the course of several months, words had so much more weight and meaning. And here you thought it was so romantic when people said "I love you more than words can say". It is only because they use it too freely, they run out of it.

Have we officially entered a global word crisis, and don't even realize how serious it is, or how unfortunate we are?


Personally, I feel lucky to have these great loves right next to me, on my bookshelf, to remind me to not take words for granted.


[az]