When River Pheonix's character was leaving San Fran why did he tear up Rose's address and throw it out the window? Was it that as soon as he was back with his friends he became a jerk again or was it that he couldn't be caught writing letters to Rose because his friends would find out? I thought it was kind of mean :/
shareI think it had a lot to do with the conversation that he'd just had moments before with Berzin.
After spending the evening with Rose and her influence on the way he sees/responds to the world around him, he took a step back and looked at all the juvenile Marine antics that he and his buddies had been a part of for so long. Then, as he talks with Berzin and reflects about how they all bs one another, etc., Berzin reminds him that that's just their rapport and says it "doesn't make us idiots - it makes us buddies."
In a way, I think that that's just what Birdlace needs to hear to remind himself why he's always bs-ing with the other guys; that's the moment where Okie farts and breaks the seriousness of the moment, and Birdlace goes right back into his usual way of acting around them. Probably something in that moment told him to snap out of the sentimentality of ever writing back to Rose and that's why he pitches her address.
"...just stay out of my emotional way."
Simplest answer? He was young and stupid.
I'm 46 and there have been plenty of times in which I threw a number away of some very special people. Now I look back and regret it.
I've done similar things sjynyc, although it wasn't because I didn't care about the people who gave me their addresses/numbers, but because I was too preoccupied with moving ahead with whatever I was doing at the time and thinking it was pointless contacting these people because 'other great people would come into my life'. In some other cases, I didn't feel confident enough to get back in touch with them because my life wasn't heading the way I wanted it too and I didn't want them to see me as a 'failure'.
As you get older you sadly find that the really special people are few and far between, and that you should savour and appreciate those special friends whatever you do and wherever you go.