back to letters

and while it wasn't the most holiday appropriate film choice, we watched letters from iwo jima today.  and wept. a lot. the sadness is practically insurmountable if you really take into account not only the moments from that time, that week, even the day of the attack, and examine both sides.  but also, if you look at it from just the human perspective.  the way each side, each man, felt at the end of each day, apart from their homes and families, their loves and lives.  the way each hand held a pen one moment, writing letters home, then next moment holding a different kind of pin.  and so it comes back to letters today.  the way they, in this instance, have provided us with a way into the hearts of minds of so many that nothing else could have ever done.  no retelling, no recollection could have ever come close to capturing.

the lesson this day for me:  never lose sight of the worth of words, fully spelled and written in long-hand (or even typed might do).  never hold them too close, nor let them stray too far.  stars and compass needles. words are always a way back to who we were, who we want to be, who we want to be near.