E-mails. Faxes. Phone calls. I understand there are people who even text-message. [A brief pause while some readers scream, "Dinosaur!"]
When was the last time you wrote a letter? I don't mean business correspondence such as cover pages for proposals and the like. I mean a regular letter to a friend or an acquaintance; a missive that goes beyond a note card, covers several pages, and which is hand-written on paper and mailed in a stamped envelope.
It's been a long time since I've done that.
History weeps.
Aside from the special nature of such letters, there is indeed a loss to history, even if it is the scrawl of an obscure management consultant in Phoenix. I treasure some letters that an ancestor of mine, a young farmer, wrote while he was serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. They cause me to wonder who is going to pass along e-mails from generation to generation? Will that sterile format have the same appeal? I can study this ancestor's handwriting and get a sense of his personality. His stationery was patriotic and he had a "fine hand" as they used to say before we hammered everything out by machine. Despite limited education, he was rather eloquent.
I've been neglecting some friends. It's time to get out the paper. I may even use a fountain pen.
4 comments:
Michael, Michael. I haven't ridden a horse to work lately either. Nor have I used candles for illumination at night so that I can read. Substance over form. Efficiency over delay. I would rather someone pay me online by computer than handwrite a check, deposit it in the mail, and get it to me in a few days. I can spend it faster. :-)
Richard,
Let's not confuse the business world with the personal. I love electronic billing and it has been years since I've ridden a horse. Candles, of course, have their appeal.
That said, electronic personal messages lack the charm of a handwritten letter. I find it hard to imagine anyone saving old love e-mails.
Life must be poetry as well as prose.
Michael
Michael,
Your post is uncannily apposite. My friend's mother passed this Saturday morning after a short illness. I wrote him a letter. Somehow, I thought that an e-mail, tweet or text message wasn't going to cut it. Even thought I don't have a "fine hand" (I'm left-handed) I used a fountain pen.
Some personal situations demand a certain gravity.
Mike.
Mike,
Your intuition was right on target. That letter will have far more effect.
Michael
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