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 Putting the phone down… postscript

You are welcome to our Seafarers’ centre ! Maybe you have already called your wife, your girl-friend, your relatives, or used Internet, Webcam, etc…to chat with them. But the time comes – alas – to put the telephone down, to be back on board, to keep going till the next port of call… the next call. Till when ?

You will certainly remember these happy moments and the voices of those you love dearly. They go with you and within you ! If only you could make them last forever, avoid that dreadful moment when a final “I love you” gives way to silence…

Dear friend, would you like to make those moments and voices last, to give them a touch of eternity ? It’s simple : Write a letter ! Of course it will reach your home and loved ones at a snail’s pace. But once arrived, it will last a long time, much longer than a phone call. It will be read and reread again and again. Even things that are not written will be understood ,even your silences will be decoded! Your loved ones know how to read between the lines. Don’t you do it whenever you receive a letter on board ? And don’t you have a hangdog look when the mail arrives on board… with nothing for you ?

A letter is not like a bottle thrown overboard. It is a companion, a friend who helps you forget the shortness of stopovers. When read and reread by the people you love, it reveals your most intimate thoughts, your beliefs, and your doubts, the trust you have in others or the trust you deserve yourself. A letter is a small, humble present, but a lasting one. A seaman’s life without letters is torture.

Dear friend, entrust your letter to us in the center. We’ll post it without delay !

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Letter received by email December 25^th 2007, from ship

“ I really miss those snail mails and cards which I read hundred of times across days at sea, as if every day I receive a mail. I remember when Shobe wrote to me every day and twice a week dropped it at the post office. And when we arrive in port, everybody is waiting for the agent to see their private mails, and you can witnessed the big smiles of your crewmates even the letter were very old and late, though it seems they were lost for a long time, and you can see the grin and happy faces.

Right now, I did not receive any Christmas cards except the one made  by my son Khyle, which is the best card I ever received in my whole life. It was his first expression of greeting me this Christmas. Personalized and wholeheartedly given and expressing his thoughts.

Unlike now, you  just copy, paste and attach and that’s it!. Honestly I don’t bother to see it again, I just print it and display. Unlike those wonderful years I even put it  under my pillow at night  and read it over and over again until I sleep. And when you wake up in the morning you will read it again. Although we are far from our loved ones as you know Filipinos are fond of calling back home. A queue at our smart link on board and we have to wait for 30 minutes …

But that is it after you hear their voices, you feel the longing and sudden loneliness. It is an instant happiness when you talk to them, after that is it the melancholy will replace your thoughts.

Nothing can replace the old reliable good snail mails.”   Jun

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