Letter from Señor Paulo

THIS WEEK’S WINNER

 MANILA, Philippines - Maria Sabrina P. Palmares is a freelancer for Creative Graphic and Product Design. She has been working on and off as a product development designer since she graduated in 2008 from the School of Fine Arts major in Advertising at the Philippine Women’s University. She loves illustrated children’s books “with high hopes that my skills in both graphic and freehand drawing sketches will also be published in a hardbound book.”

I n my e-mail’s sent items from March 2009 is this one:

Dear Señor Paolo:

Have you played the Rubik’s Cube? I have read in your website that if we write to you asking for your signature... Here is my address...please send...

I was standing within the limits of my own heart when I met him as Elias. I was in deep awe when he transmuted into a witch on the streets of Portobello and I gave him a discerning look when he started to talk how sex can last for only 11 minutes. But I have grown fondly of him and refer to him as Señor Paolo.

Paolo Coelho from Brazil is an international writer known for his thought-provoking ideas and wizardly techniques in transmitting his opinions and judgement in a refreshing enlightening perspective. But above all else, he’s the undeniable resident hall of famer for high school and college students’ book reports with his books translated in 66 languages.

What makes Señor Paolo and his books interesting is his ability to enchant us once he transports the reader into the realm of the unknown and the divine. How many sacred rituals has he inhabited that we dare think of imitating them yet physically afraid to do for fear of some devilish outcome it might create in our “not-so” (or might be) contented lives?

In his book The Pilgrimage, which is actually one of his writings, Señor Paolo presented us his journey to find his sword and unravel the secret behind it. It is identical to his world-renowned and ever-popular The Alchemist, which indulges the reader in the magical and somewhat stupid voyage of the shepherd Santiago in recovering his treasure only to find it where it all started. Both books are anchored on one universal theme: Know who you are meant to be and heartily follow it.

When Veronika decided to die, we questioned our own limitations and push ourselves on what more we can be. Who could forget the love in the eyes of the prophet Elias? After witnessing the destruction is replenishing the love that has been missed because love walks everywhere, in the streets and in the far corners of the earth. And in our dreams, we meet Brida, following the Tradition of the Moon who has found not only one soul mate in a life span, but two in the arms of a magus and an apprentice of physics.

The throbbing pressure of earthly temptation and lustful emotions that devours Miss Pyrm against the golden bars of the devil imparts the readers the potential deceit and wickedness of human nature. While in the heat of the blazing desert we found the angels contemplating with the valkyries, riding the motorcycle and performing ancient rites to commune with God.

Señor Paolo’s notable characters made us see through the looking glass of our inner self and how in a constrained episode, we bound ourselves in that looking glass, simply looking but never trying to achieve. They told us tales and stories of love that are a hundredfold more rewarding than what we can feel in a thousand light years. Readers are invited into a process of push and pull, questioning our conscience of what we believe is right and wrong, moral or immoral.

His written passages and published words never cease to demand a time for myself to reflect on who I am at present and the possibility of what I can be. The intimacy developed between his words and me is shaped into a silent conversation within the four-wall room. His words are not merely words but rather intriguing whispers of prudence, always defiantly put.

In March 2009, I learned a lesson that I still hold close to my heart. My mother brought home a Rubik’s Cube that she got from a flea market. I do not have the highest intelligence for math, which they say is the key to unlock the powerful cube of knowledge, but still I tried playing with it. A few hours passed, almost one side was complete but then the cube disappointingly broke into little pieces! After all, it was bought from the flea market — the short life was inevitable. Then a huge impulse of reflection swept me off the cube, and in the deepest of my spirit I knew that I wanted to share it with Señor Paolo. Like ice cream you’d want to share with someone or a tango that takes two to dance, it was to Señor that I wanted to share the humble reflection that kept sprouting in my head.

Urging myself to e-mail him through his website was tough. After a thousand tap of backspaces on the computer keyboard, I hesitantly clicked the “send” button and unknowingly felt bold and dignified for sending my letter of reflection. Too bold actually, that I even asked for a signature from Paolo Coelho himself!

Only when I remembered a passage from one of his books did I know that my boldness and determination were just the right amount.

On the first week of July, a week before my birthday, a letter came. It read:

Dear Maria Sabrina,

It is the sacred fire of passion that serves as the most potent vehicle for our dreams.

It was from Señor Paolo Coelho. He had signed his letter.