Stone Letters

If you have not seen the movie Departures  (2008) by director Yojiro Takita, well, what are you waiting for?!  I just saw it and was totally smitten.  The description on the back of the DVD box does not do it justice;  its multiple awards, including an Oscar, better speak  to its excellence. But this post isn't really about the movie.

Towards the end of this definitely-will-see-it-again movie, there is a touching scene in which the main character  mentions “stone letters”, which I had never heard of.  With snow-capped mountains in the background, and a babbling brook at his side, he says,

 “Long ago, before writing, you’d send someone a stone that suited the way you were feeling.  From its weight and touch, they’d know how you felt. From a smooth stone they might get that you were happy or from a rough one that you were worried about them.” 

He then gives a stone to someone (no spoilers here), and the recipient embraces the stone in their hands.

In some crazy way, it made sense.  It resonated with me on a core level.  Never mind that by this time, I was already a bit teary.  And never mind that, for some reason, the scenes of my life don’t always come with breathtaking backdrops.  And lastly, never mind that a “stone letter” is really a “rock letter” in better sounding clothes.  I was moved, and I am sticking to it. 

Anyway, in the DVD “Extras”, the director said that a stone letter is a symbol of love and of communication; it is a baton passing from generation to generation and lets us impart an inanimate speechless thing with different emotions. 

How many of us haven’t picked up a rock or stone, felt its heft (maybe with a light toss in the air), and enveloped it our hands to “feel” it?  I’ve done this on hikes, at the beach, and just on walks.  Most I have thrown back, but some, for whatever  reason, I have kept.   

Or maybe someone gave you a stone? It probably was their way of sharing a part of how they are feeling, and they chose to share it with you.  Sometimes we share leaves that we find, or a wildflower, but the solidity and permanence of a stone--literally and figuratively--add heft to the moment.

On the internet, there since Departures came out,  there have been various “stone letters” sent to this speaker or politician or the like, usually meant to express some displeasure.  I think though that stone letters are meant to be shared between people who share some emotion connection, who have some emotional invest in one another, whether good or bad or mixed. 

Think about it.  One of the first love letters –though written –was on stone:  the Ten Commandments,  God’s love letter to the Israelites that was meant to guide them to an easier and simpler life. 

So next time you are out and about, and you see a rock—a stone--try picking it up and feeling it.  If it’s one you want  to keep, then in that moment, it is your own stone letter to yourself, maybe helping you get in touch with where you are in your life.  Take it home and let it sit for a while.  Then one day, you might toss it out, or maybe one day, you will pick it up again, like the feel of it, and share with someone who is in your heart your very own stone letter.