Letters on Beauty XIII
Letter XIII — A trip to the past
✍️ Rebeca's reply to Kaelthar
Dated: September, 2025 💌
Dear Aurelion,
Sealed — and thank you. Your touch was truly missing this time. Just as Verdiel made me feel there was no escape from this world’s urgency, you too reminded me: it is not something I can walk away from.
I used to dream of stepping back in time — to the beauty now left in ruins, to candlelight and neoclassical grace. But the more I think, the less I can believe the past was better. Perhaps it only feels that way because I am not there.
When I look back, I see both splendor and savagery. Humans were not yet civilized — or maybe, not so different from today. It seems we did not change much. We only learned to hide our madness inside polished speech.
And still, I cannot help but love the past when I look at its art and architecture. That longing never leaves me. But would I really go back now, if I could? I used to think my only hesitation would be living without penicillin. Now, I would fear something else far more: that I would not find you there.
Yours,
Rebeca
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Letter XV: The present is not my cage, but my forge
But I still wonder: is the world today truly worse because it runs faster? Or does it only feel worse because beauty in the past belonged mostly to the privileged few — and even they carried the weight of no sanitation, of winters without warmth, of suffering hidden beneath marble and paint?