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"Virus Hoax:
Sympathy Example"
Virus Hoax Warnings: Page 19
of 24
Garca Mrquez Farewell Letter
December 2000
Recently, the text of a poem called "La marioneta" has been passed
around the Internet, as well as run in several Latin American
newspapers. Attributed to Garca Mrquez and believed to be a "farewell
letter" to his friends, it was uncovered to really be the work of a
ventriloquist named Johnny Welch. A good description of the hoax is
found in a Reuters article publisned in the LA Times.
A GENIUS BIDS FAREWELL
Gabriel Garcia Marquez has retired from public life due to health
reasons: cancer of the lymphnodes. It seems that it is getting worse.
He has sent a farewell letter to his friends, and thanks to the Internet
it is spreading. This short text, written by one of the most brilliant
Latin Americans in recent times, is truly moving.
"If for an instant God were to forget that I am a rag doll and gifted me
with a piece of life, possibly I wouldn't say all that I think, but
rather I would think of all that I say. I would value things, not for
their worth but for what they mean. I would sleep little, dream
more,understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty
seconds of light.
"I would walk when others hold back, I would wake when others sleep.
"I would listen when others talk, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate
ice cream! If God were to give me a piece of life, I would dress simply,
throw myself face first into the sun, baring not only my body but also
my soul. My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hate on ice, and
wait for the sun to show.. Over the stars I would paint with a Van Gogh
dream a Benedetti poem, and a Serrat song would be the serenade I'd
offer to the moon. With my tears I would water roses, to feel the pain
of their thorns, and the red kiss of their petals...
"My god, if I had a piece of life... I wouldn't let a single day pass
without telling the people I love that I love them. I would convince
each woman and each man that they are my favorites, and I would live in
love with love. I would show men how very wrong they are to think that
they cease to be in love when they grow old, not knowing that they grow
old when they cease to be in love! To a child I shall give wings, but I
shall let him learn to fly on his own. I would teach the old that death
does not come with old age, but with forgetting. So much have I learned
from you, oh men...
"I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of the mountain,
without knowing that real happiness is in how it is scaled. I have
learned that when a newborn child squeezes for the first time with his
tiny fist his father's finger, he has him trapped forever. I have
learned that a man has the right to look down on another only when he
has to help the other get to his feet. From you I have learned so many
things, but in truth they won't be of much use, for when I keep them
within this suitcase, unhappily shall I be dying."
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
Copyright 2004 by Jay Jennings
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