Letters and thoughts

I received several messages yesterday. One was a snail mail from a friend in UP and the other was a long friendster message from a friend. Aside from the fact that my friend from UP was implying that Calculus has taken over me and that the subject has sucked all the sense I have, the other friend who sent the friendster message said otherwise. Well sometimes I do not know who to believe. I refuse to believe that Calculus has sucked my sensibility since the reality is I have been blogging a lot lately and so far I do not think that any of my sensibility was lost on my previous entries. And so as I try to compose myself in this blog, I begin to think about letters and its messages.

I have always been fond of letter writing. When I was younger, my mother use to supervise me and my brothers when writing letters to my father and to my grandparents. I think that habit did not leave as I can not remember an event that I did not like writing letters. When my mother was in the States, I practically write to her everything that happens to my life, my crushes, the things that I did and sometimes even when I am angry. I remembered writing a letter when I was so mad at her that I was crying while writing it. Eventually, I decided not to mail that letter as it was too emotional so I just placed in somewhere in my cabinet. A couple of months later I rediscovered this emotional letter and was so amazed with the things that I wrote on that letter. I eventually got around mailing it to my mother and I remembered that she was deeply touched with my honesty on that letter that when she called me up after that she was so emotional and she felt so sorry for causing that feeling to me. And then there was this lady that I met during a National Youth Forum when I was in High School, coming from Dumaguete that was so far from Baguio where she came from, I started exchanging letters with her and eventually that led to a very wonderful friendship. I consider that episode of my life as one of the most memorable and up to now I still smile thinking of that wonderful friendship I had with her. I realized how letters have actually nurtured some of the best relationships I had with other people. One friend once told me that I should keep her letters so that when she becomes great I can sell our correspondence for a huge sum. You know what? I realized that letters become memories just like pictures. When we write a letter to a friend or somebody we have some kind of emotional attachment, we are able to immortalize the feelings through the letters that we write. Somehow the advent of the internet, text messaging and other means that simplify communication has caused letter writing's popularity to decline but then I really believe that nothing beats the pen and the paper plus an honest heart.

I like this particular concept when I am here as a cadet, when the people that I care for are miles away. Having my own cellphone might be the most convenient way to communicate but still nothing beats the personal touch of a carefully written letter. When we write letters we are actually sending a part of ourselves to somebody hoping that the same feeling that we felt will also be felt by the receiver as he or she reads that letter. Being a cadet, somewhat imprisoned in this Fort, the ability to be able to share your deepest sentiments despite the distance is perhaps one of the best fulfillment one can get. I believe that the soul that is reflected on each stroke of hand as a letter is carefully composed. I personally feel that a letter in all its simplicity is the most and perhaps the best way to express oneself, in the end it is the person's heart written on paper.

And so I conclude. Letter writing for me has bridged the gap between people separated by a distance so great. It does not require any explanation because no matter how intricate the world has become it is the human heart that will always be successful even with letters. When the heart speaks and the body follows it becomes a perfect harmony such that whoever hears the music can't help it but to sing or dance along it's familiar tune