Letters to Friends

In the book Chris writes a rather lengthy letter to Franz in which he urges Franz to take up a more nomadic and "economic" lifestyle.  I got several things from this letter.  One of the things I got from the letter was that Chris is religious because he keeps mentioning god.  What exactly does he believe in?  The Journey he is taking and the answers he is looking for are all things that most people just take from their religion but I am very impressed that he went on his odessy instead of just following what his religion says.  Another thing that I got from the letter is that Chris seems to strongly suggest that he has found happieness.  He talks about the "Joy" that God has put all around us and I am curious as to what some more of his experiences with this "Joy" are.  The passages that we read made me think about a lot of things that have been bothering me.  The foremost of which is the upcoming graduation of my close friends.  I don't do very well making friends because I'm kinda cynical but I also don't make friends because with the amount that I have had to move I know that we will eventually have to part.  Because of this most of my closest friends are Seniors and Juniors (all of which are in marching band) this year and I am having a difficult time coming to terms with our seperation.  I am curious to know what Chris's childhood was like in more detail because it will greatly effect my opinion of him and his relationships.  I can't imagine leaving my friends the way he did but if he feels the way I do then he might be leaving the people he gets to know on the road so early because he doesn't want to have to deal with a more difficult good-bye.  If I had the choice I would probably take this option as well but I think that I would soon realize that it is an empty life and come to regret it. No friends. No family.  I can't even imagine what he goes through when he is away from the people he writes too because he must feel an attachment to them or he wouldn't write.  I know that I will get over the loss of my friends and possibly make some new friends next year but could Chris get over the loss of his friends? What did he feel when he wrote to them?  I'm not delusional. I know that everything is temporary and all things both good and bad must come to an end but does that knowledge make the end less difficult?  In my opinion, no. It doesn't make it less difficult in the end but it makes the middle a thousand times worse.

Below is a poem by Janet Buck. It talks about how in the end you will be surounded by empty chairs.  is this how Chris felt?

Parting Drapes


Parting Drapes
How did you survive the frost
knowing the book would close,
music would stop, a pulse would quit,
and you would be left in a room
surrounded by empty chairs?
Six long months with death for drapes
your hands were always drawing them.
Back and forth, the steel screeched
as if it were an oil rig
plumbing a desert for hope.
You messed with even valances,
tugging at puffs as if this skirt
could ever hang over the going bone.
Inviting in the hiding sun,
blue batiks of fading skies
becomes commitment's old career.
You sign forever in the sand;
someone kicks it in your eyes.

All palms are idle in the end,
tortilla husks that speak
of curdled, passing meals.
Little scraps of ivory moons
bequeathed to soil, then covered up.
Rage drops anchors in the mud
and dying sails the fitful sea,
testing every rope we own.
You kept his college photograph
in every room you wandered through
touched the glass as if to print it with a wish.
Fed him ice chips, spoons of yogurt,
watched the drips deliver fluid to the sand,
packed his watch and wedding ring
took it home and stored it there
where every clock had lost its dial.
Adoring him was not a chore
even when his face was ash.


Janet Buck