Never really gone

THIS WEEK’S WINNER

MANILA, Philippines - Frances Alexandra Punzalan Garcia is a 16-year-old, fourth-year student at De La Salle Santiago Zobel. She has eight puppies and enjoys sports such as running and fencing. She also plays the drums. “I believe that reading definitely helps a person in discovering life both at its best and at its worst.”

You know that feeling when your path crosses with a stranger’s and you just feel an immediate connection? And in that span of a second or two everything just falls perfectly into place and you know it was meant to be? Well, I’ve felt that, too — with a book.

If it was remotely possible to experience love at first sight with a book, then I’m a victim. You see, I fell in love with a book four years ago. I was in a bookstore, not really searching for anything, when our paths crossed. I think what made me attracted to it was the challenge it presented. It consisted of more than a thousand pages with a font size that almost had me reach for a magnifying glass. Seeing it, I knew it was my destiny to read it.

What do you love about that person? Sometimes it can be the easiest question to answer, sometimes it’s the hardest, but I’ve always noticed the generic answers — “He’s nice and sweet” or “She’s pretty and smart.” Well, I promise to make a less generic expression of why I love Gone with the Wind.

The story of Gone with the Wind is set during the late 1800s in America. What makes it appealing to me is visualizing the difference between life before and life now. You can say that life at the present time is easier with all the technology we have but a part of me seems to yearn for the simplicity of the life before. As much as I enjoy the hustle and bustle of my life, I wouldn’t mind living in that kind of life with its slow pace. The problem with a busy lifestyle is that sometimes you forget to appreciate the smaller things in life but with that kind of life, you take things one step at a time as you see the wonder of your surroundings.

That was before the war, of course. The Civil War is part of Gone with the Wind. The vividness of the accounts really did frighten me because I just couldn’t believe such things had happened and are still happening. What I knew about wars was always what happened in the battlefield but this novel showed me the other side of war — the war back at home. The women, children, and the older people had a war to fight and sometimes, it was even worse. The people left behind had to find food, shelter, clothing, while trying to be strong for their loved ones.

Gone with the Wind made me realize the importance of history as something that I can learn from even if it didn’t happen in my lifetime or in my country.

This book has contributed to the literary world a number of timeless characters. One of them is Katie Scarlett O’Hara, the protagonist of the story. Scarlett is one of those characters that don’t remain in the book — she jumps out of the pages, bursting with life. I would love to be as beautiful as she is described. I would love to be as open-minded and brave as she is. I envy how she can say what she wants but sometimes, I believe that we need a bit of delicadeza. On the other hand, I’m glad that I’m not like her because I’m actually sensitive of what others feel. I’m glad I’m not like her because I can actually read the signs.

I enjoy reading Gone with the Wind over and over again and seeing her grow as a person, celebrating her triumphs and mourning her downfalls. For all her good and bad sides, Scarlett made me love Gone with the Wind.

Another character responsible for my love affair with Gone with the Wind is Rhett Butler. Butler is as manly as a guy can get. A part of me would not approve of having a guy like him as my better half but another part would. With all his charm and his ways, he is deep inside, one of the most loving partners and fathers out there. Rhett opened my eyes, showing me that sometimes, people just create a rough and careless exterior to protect themselves from rejection.

 I learned that’s not the way to go. Sometimes, the more open you are the lesser the chance that you will get hurt because you allow yourself to experience both the good and the bad, and experiencing the bad makes you appreciate the better things.

I could write all day about all the characters in Gone with the Wind. No matter how short or long their lines were, Margaret Mitchell made sure that every character had an impact and a special task to teach the reader something new.

From everything I acquired from Gone with the Wind, the most vital lesson is that never in your life should you deprive someone or yourself of loving. We all deserve to love and be loved and we will never truly be satisfied if we have never experienced the giving and taking that accompanies love. Even if the setting of the novel is more than a century ago, the obstacles faced by the characters are the same, especially with relationships. One thing that ruins all kinds of relationships is pride. We need to know when to fight for something and when to let go. This novel, in a way, made me ready for the roller coaster that is called love. I know that nothing can replace the actual experience but this book always comes close in making me feel the ups and downs of living and loving.

Gone with the Wind is not a romance novel, nor is it a historical novel. I don’t think it belongs to any genre because it makes one for itself. It serves as my history book, my self-help book, and my guide to love. I didn’t know that my love could grow any stronger but the more I read Gone with the Wind, the more I fell in love with it.

Gone with the Wind made me feel butterflies and heartbreak for the first time. With words, it made me feel a whirlwind of emotions. It had the power to make me smile, laugh, cry, sob, roll my eyes with a flip of a page.

Until now, my love for Gone with the Wind is going strong because for me it is alive.