No one could ever be a hundred percent ready to lose someone who holds a special place in his/her heart—be it a family member, a partner, or a friend. This is the reason why The Telephone of The Wind initiative began: to let people say the goodbyes they never got the chance to say to their departed loved ones.
“If I ever had a line to heaven, I swear I’d call you there,” the song Line to Heaven goes, reflecting a person’s earnest desire to talk to someone who has gone to the “other side”. There are a number of reasons behind this wish: the regret of being unable to say a proper goodbye, the longing to share a part of his/her world with that person again, the longing to grab back the happier days, and many more.
But one thing is for sure, speaking to them again will bring immeasurable comfort amid the process of grief, healing, and recovery. For the ones behind this US-based project, these disconnected telephone booths can give people a safe space to process their thoughts and emotions by “talking” to a lost loved one, seeing it as “a healing experience” that is both unique and sacred.
In this project, one may fill out a form on their website to request for a phone booth for their community and get a chance to have it installed in memory of a deceased person.
“We’ll do our best to reply promptly, typically within a week. We strive to respond quickly, but please understand that this project is driven by our passion, and we take pride in offering a personalized response to every individual request,” the team expressed.
‘Wind Phones’
The concept of “wind phones” originated in Japan when Itaru Sasaki, who was grieving for a cousin who died of cancer, purchased an old-fashioned phone booth and set it up in his garden.
“He installed an obsolete rotary phone not connected to wires or any ‘earthly system.’ Here, Itaru felt a continued connection to his cousin and found comfort and healing amid his grief. Itaru gave his phone booth a name, Kaze No Denwa (風の電話), translated as The Telephone of the Wind,” according to My Wind Phone‘s website.
The following year (2011), a 9.1-magnitude earthquake befell and resulted in a tsunami that took away thousands of lives. Itaru, who was able to salvage his phone booth, relocated it on a windy hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the foot of the Kujira-Yama, next to the town of Otsuchi.
“He welcomed mourners to visit his phone booth to make calls to their friends and relatives lost in the great tsunami, hoping they would find a connection to help them cope with their grief as it did him,” it was disclosed.
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