Dear John.

A delightful way to open the day with a movie. What a shame people scarcely write letters anymore.

Some afterthoughts:

- When the lovebirds get impossbily sweet and romantic you know what follows would become as unfortunate and heart-saddening as it could possibly be. People yearn for Romance but what most of them do is settle for less because behind everything extraordinary there is a price to be paid. Commonplace happiness is afterall a haven when people realize Romance must take place in the storm.

- We are grateful to Life as we realize our paths only cross by the slightest chance and otherwise it could have been someone else. And if that particular point in time and space is missed, Life would still be going on but with unknowable irrelevance and ignorance. Things fall apart just like the way they get together. It's by Circumstance. It is the details in life, trivial or important, that makes one's Life as it is.

- It's remarkable how many films about the Iraq War have already been made since the dawn of it. In a month or so (and before I knew it) I have watched three: The Hurt Locker, Brothers and Dear John. I used to regard War either as an ancient happening or a fictional backdrop. It never occurred to me that War is still tramping people's life, as much for the invaders as the invaded. And the worst part is not blood or flesh, but the trauma which dominates one's senses and errodes one's heart. It is sarcastic how the super-communication systems fail to provoke sympathy in people but instead render them immune to pain and sorrow. The more we are exposed and forced to witness, the less humane and empathetic we become.