Paulo Coelho on Immortality

Paulo Coelho is StreetPoet's favorite writer of all times. He is a big fan of the writer since the first time he read "The Alchemist", the book changed the course of lives of many who had the chance to read it. Paulo Coelho has a web site called "Warrior of Light" (http://www.warriorofthelight.com/) where he shares his articles with his readers (you can register if you would like to recieve more of these wonderful articles from Paulo Coelho) and he also owns a blog site (http://paulocoelhoblog.com/warrioroflight/) where the fellow reades can contribute with their thoughts and comments.
By chance, StreetPoet found that the latest issue of Warrior Of Light is on "immortality", and vampires of course. StreetPoet wanted to share with the ones who would be interested in reading it. So here it is:

"How do human beings respond to changes?
Badly. Always very badly. One of the most widespread myths in the whole world – the myth of the vampire – reflects this idea.
What is a vampire? It is someone who at a certain moment in their existence becomes immortal. In other words, after that moment their body will no longer follow the normal course of nature; they will become forever young, and they can live as long as they like without having to deal with problems caused by growing old.
The vampire’s only diet is a little blood every day, and their only care with their skin is to avoid sunlight – but after all, this is a very small price to pay to enjoy all the possibilities of eternal life.
Except for one thing: vampires stop in time, while the world carries on changing. Everything that they were always used to begins to change, and even though they have all the time in the world to adapt to these changes, they desire immortality precisely because they were happy with the world in which they lived. They are not interested in accompanying these changes.
Let us imagine a human being who becomes a vampire right at the finals of the 1986 World Cup. He could smoke on airplanes, did not need to puzzle over picking what channel to watch on the television – the choice was so limited. He had an actress for a sex symbol, understood all about carburetors and fought for his socialist ideal, convinced that the Soviet Union would soon have more capable governors, and the yearnings of the people (called the proletariat) would at last be respected.
One fine day he falls in love with a 22-year-old sociology student. He admires her beauty, her enthusiasm, her idealism. He suggests transforming her into a vampire, but she refuses – she has seen too many horror films. She is in love too and does not want to lose him, but she sets one single condition for going ahead with their relationship: he must never suck her blood. The vampire has no choice but to keep his word. They get married in the registry office to avoid mortal crucifixes.
Twenty years roll by - in fact fly by, because another four World Cups have taken place. The former university student is now 42 years old, working in a bank (unemployment problems) or else writing useless Master’s and Ph.D. theses and dissertations merely to justify her life as a professional student. Carburetors have disappeared from the face of the earth. In horror he leafs through a magazine and sees his old sex-symbol actress transformed into a hybrid product made of plastic, Botox and silicone, her face coated with tons of makeup. He feels guilty for having 200 TV channels and only watches the same ones as long ago.
The Soviet Union has collapsed. He was obliged to abandon his beloved cigarettes (although it did not affect his health, don’t forget that vampires are immortal), because smoking became impossible, either because of laws or because of the way people looked at him in restaurants. And worst of all: everyone is talking about chat, Internet, iPod, rave and so on. The vampire tries to keep up to date, but everything seems absolutely complicated, irritating and senseless. He looks at the computer as if he were looking at a clove of garlic – with a mixture of horror and impotence. He will never be able to manage one of those, although he has tried several times.
His friends are retired, spend their days playing cards – they also do not know how to deal with computers, but they do not mind, the group has grown old together, they all have the same interests and can share experiences.
The vampire stays young. Immortal. Now he is faced with eternal depression. He attempts suicide, going out in the sunlight or looking at crucifixes, only to discover that these were myths created by the Church and cause him no harm at all.
He is left with one consolation: there is still one political figure that he knows all about (because all the other governors across the world have changed).
But Fidel Castro will also pass. And then nothing, absolutely nothing, will remain of the world that the vampire once loved so much."
Issue no#128, 30 August,2006, Paulo Coelho.

Words of Love -synopsis-

She pressed the botton of her computer and another day ended for the woman. She reached for her drawer, took out her small make-up bag and went to the lady's room. She carefully looked at her face in the mirror, she stretched her lips showing her teeth to the woman in the mirror. After she refreshed her make-up went back to the office to take her bag and walked towards the lift. She was ready to turn into the woman she liked to be all the time. Her cell phone rang at the moment, a name with a number on the screen, reminded her of the problems that must be solved immediately. She didnt want to go home, see that man and make love to him. She didnt want to answer that phone too but she felt she was obliged to do so, after the phone rang for some time she pressed the blue button and started the talk: "My darling, my meeting is still running now...Yeah, I missed you too my baby... Mmm, let's be together at tomorrow night, is it ok my dear?... I love you too my darling. Goodbye." When the talk was over, she closed the cell phone completely, nobody would reach her for that night.
In a short time, she was sitting at a table in an elegant club by herself. She bought herself a drink first. She lit up her cigarette and took a deep breath, next the smoke that filled her lungs were oozing through her corpulent lips. There were many strangers around her, looking over the glass she checked if anyone was looking at her. Yes, there was somebody, every time there happened to be someone. A neatly dressed handsome young man was sitting at the bar alone, looking at her time to time. She used to be the first one to do the first step secretly and on that night she wouldnt bother doing it again. She casted an evasive look over him. She only looked at his eyes and then down to her table. The club was overcrowded and under the weak light of the flambeau hanging on the walls I had been watching them behind a hide of smoke in the air shifted in slow motion with the music that played. Young man approached woman's table with gentle steps and asked her if he could join her. She accepted the man's offer with a smile. They had a few drinks, talked about the music, the drinks and other personal pleasures as well. This much courage of the woman was impressing the young man. He was looking at her breasts, her lips and deep into her eyes with desire while he was speaking. And woman was observing him too, especially his hands with long and manicured fingers which she had begun to desire having on all over her body. Meanwhile she put her hand slowly on his hand. He called for the waiter. After they paid for the drinks, they left the club together. She was holding his arm as they walked and she was feeling ready for the thrill that she would live in the late hours of the night. They came to the apartment where she lived after a short walk. When she left for the bathroom, he lit another cigarette. He was anxious, his hands were shaking, "he had to kill her".
He was a successful surgeon but his life was an ultimate fiasco. The things that he lived during his childhood made him feel these cold feelings for the women, at first for his mother. "My darling", she called him and with many other words of love... When he looked at the women, he saw his mother touching him with the desire he felt for women. He had seen this dream many times before and this vision had undemandingly caused the deaths of several women. Vampires are far more innocent than the subliminal monsters sleeping inside of man, believe me. It is sometimes very hard for us to dive into the subconscious levels of a psychologically impaired people. I dont think that I fully understood him, I must say there was also a possibility that he himself had made up all these. And someone who has a mental disorder must never pass the treshold. These type of vampires eventually harm themselves or the house of pact that they belong. Actually, I never cared about the pact societies, like they didnt care about the lonely hunters like me. After a long waiting, she got out of the bathroom. The man was looking into the night by the open window. She let the towel on her slide down. She was all naked again, drew near the man and hugged him from behind. While she was taking of his coat she saw the bloody bite on his neck. The man turned his face to the woman and looked into her eyes. It was her death that she saw. But it is not over yet. The things I've told and I will tell are as real as I am.