Seoul, 23rd of December
Jack,
I don’t wanna talk
About things we’ve gone through
Though it’s hurting me
Now it’s history
I’ve played all my cards
And that’s what you’ve done too
Nothing more to say
No more ace to play
Yes, absolutely. It would have been better for Messi to keep the gap, to not achieve what he achieved this weekend. But that’s if you ask me, not if you ask the majority of the football supporting herds. Messi ticked the one box that remained unticked and in a world driven by efficiency, routine, and numbers that’s the ultimate accomplishment. Days filled with to-do lists, minute-to-minute planning, continuous growth and the strive for perfection. Messi marked the ultimate task on a list that was started by others when he was still a little kid. We loved Messi for being a kid. For his joy in the game, for his happiness in collecting match balls after scoring hattricks. World Champion forever. An impressive achievement. But no – of course – he had better not. For me (but again, the minority) the greatest are not the ‘winning-all’s’, it’s the one’s that got oh-so-close, it’s the underdogs, it’s the unpolished. I want to cry despair together, I want to have false hope not certainty. Fingers crossed, not arms up. Winning big and then falling deep. Tantalisingly close. Can we agree that hitting the crossbar is very often more pleasing than a ball going in? Not only aesthetically, but also for the story it tells. People still talk about the Dutch team of the ’74 World Cup and their total football. The Dutch won the ’78 World Cup, had Rob Rensenbrink not hit the post but scored in the 90th minute against Argentina. My heart cried when Ajax lost the semi-final of the Champions League in 2019, in the dying seconds of overtime, but now I love them even more for it. It’s Riquelme, Okocha, and Bergkamp over Messi, Maradona, and Pele any time for me.
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It’s simple and it’s plain
Why should I complain?
But tell me, does she kiss
Like I used to kiss you?
Does it feel the same
When she calls your name?
You throw in some interesting thought trails in your latest note. One from a documentary maker and one from yourself. You say give me Messi’s accomplishments any day and I wonder to what extent that holds up. Think about it a little longer, a little more than just the fame and the money. The few times I have seen you receiving compliments, you didn’t seem all too comfortable Jack. A very human and very humble character trait. So would you really like your ego stroked continuously or is it just the idea of financial independency, a large garden overlooking a Peruvian valley, your own book study and more time and coffee one can ever consume? There is plenty of research that shows that from a certain financial wealth – an income around $ 80,000 a year, if I remember correctly – happiness and emotional health no longer grows accordingly. Is Messi a happier man than you are? He didn’t seem all too happy the past couple of weeks.
Somewhere deep inside
You must know I miss you
But what can I say?
Rules must be obeyed
The judges will decide
The likes of me abide
Spectators of the show
Always staying low
As for the Santiago de Compostela metaphor, this sounds more on point, albeit somewhat cruel. How would we feel if our ultraruns in the Belgian woods were to be cut short a hundred meters from the finish? And what about reading Bolaño’s 2666, only to find out at the end that the last 20 pages are missing? I wonder if these are accurate comparisons. Maybe not. I remember someone telling me years ago that it’s better to live opposite the house with the beautiful facade than to live in it. I agree that it’s mostly the journey that matters, not the destination. But even though I want to agree with the almost romantic significance of looking at Santiago rather than reaching it, I’m afraid it won’t hold up when it’s about the individual experience. In Dutch we say ‘het vlees is zwak’, the flesh is weak. Even though the mind is strong and willing, the flesh, the body is weak and it won’t accept you telling me to stand on a platform and look at the summit of Mount Everest after the hell I went through the previous 7 days. Let alone the previous 12 months. The flesh will continue to the end, and if you were to stop it, the consequences can be vicious. I’m picturing the herd storming The Capitol in Washington, now storming Santiago after you tried to direct them to the photo platform politely. On a side note, with all its miracles and scientifically unproven successes, it might be better to keep the conspiracy loonies far from Santiago any way.
You are definitely onto something, it just requires more of our attention and thoughts in the future. Maybe the end result should still remain accessible but our journeys shouldn’t necessarily always aim for the most ultimate end result. We’re all just running around, headless, diving into new adventures, never satisfied, hungry caterpillars, a new kick, a new high. And with that being said, I’m happy that we agree that, whatever this writing project is, it’s not done with the World Cup being done. Still finding out if we’re onto something, no rules, no obligations. It’s only been a start so far but I’m appreciative of the focus it brings, the much needed distraction from shorter form media, and the joy of reading your occasional rants. I don’t mind returning to another World Cup or Olympics one day in the future, but I hope 2023 will bring us even more on a life of thinking and wondering, of walking and reading, foul coffee, baklava, Korean winters, overheard conversations and misquoted philosophers.
I’m pleased to hear you own a proper camera, as photographers condescendingly call it when talking about mobile phone camera’s. Conveniently forgetting how much better phone images are these days compared to any camera picture made until, say, 10 years ago. We might even throw in the occasional picture now and then, to lighten up the correspondence. I’ll see if I can improve the layout a little. I would like to see an archive of previous notes on the main page, but gave up when reaching the limitations of my digi-skills. I’ll remain persistent and will have it fixed one day. The ‘about’ section requires a line or two, three from you. Some time in 2023. In light of struggles with the tablet, it’s also fine to handwrite it and to send me a picture. This offer does not stand for future notes.
Signing off while looking forward to our New Year’s 2666 start. It’s 2:24 am in Seoul as we speak. I’m not a dishwasher in Spain, but I do wrote at night sometimes. It’s a good practise, but I find it hard to write after a day of doing and thinking. The thought of Bolaño doing it is impressive, I agree. But let’s see Jack, if we stand at the platform looking back at our achievement of reading Bolaño’s tour de force, disappointed and empty, we will both realise it’s because of the nightly writing. And as per Bolaño’s wikipedia page: ‘In an interview Bolaño said that he began writing fiction because he felt responsible for the future financial well-being of his family…‘ Good to keep in mind for the jobless in the room.
Jitse