The Immortality Of Words

As I read The Sentence Is a Lonely Place, I saw that Lutz's meticulous and somewhat irrational eye for detail pointed to things inside the book. “Instead, I liked how anything small (a pretzel crumb, perhaps) that fell into the gutter of the book—that troughlike place where facing pages meet—stayed in there and was preserved.” This reminded me of the many things I have found in books: crumbs, stains, highlights, hair(gross), plastic wrappings, tearing, bookmarks and notes along with some poetry. These are just simple reminders that someone else read (or at least had) the book before you. You don’t know what conditions they were in or why they read/had it but you can have the absolute certainty that they existed.
I guess that’s the purpose of time capsules. I think. You put stuff in, wait a few years and re-open it to find what you may have left behind, how you improved or to remind you of a time in your life. You see, next to the bookstore there’s a time capsule that’s supposed to open in 2013; however, I’m certain that the people who put whatever is in there aren’t in school anymore. Whatever they left is their legacy for someone else to find.
This brings me back to the point I made earlier about the books and how other readers existed. But what Lutz failed to reveal, is that the book as a whole is a legacy. That not only the load of physical crap that may be hidden inside but the words, the chapters, the meaning of the book are what are left behind on purpose. The message that matters. Word’s are everybody’s legacy, regardless if you don’t mean what you write, it’s out there and as long as it’s physically written or read by someone, it will remain out there. Words don’t die or deteriorate they get the message through and evoke feelings or thoughts. I guess they’re the smallest possible time capsule. Now you’re thinking that journals, or diaries, or logs may do the same but here’s where you’re wrong without each letter there is no sentence, therefore, no meaning. Now you have to apply all your learning’s from Lutz’s piece: pay attention to detail but not too much as to where it can’t flow. See the whole and appreciate its details.