Today I went to my mailbox and was thrilled to see a beautiful envelope embossed with a treble clef and musical notes. I opened it with a growing sense of excitement. Inside was the first real letter I have received in years.
I read through it, and then read through it again. My friend in Tokyo has begun writing letters to brighten peoples' day. I decided almost instantly how nice it would be to send her a letter back. I went in search of stationery. Do you know I drove all the way across town. I stopped at these stores: Walgreen's, Micheal's, Hallmark, Office Max, Target, Fred Meyers, and last but not least Walmart. No luck until Walmart. If I had known that I would have stopped there first.
The reason I had avoided Walmart to begin with is, because when I checked online they had nothing. I bought a nice set, of which they only had two, and I will be writing her back. The sad thing is people do not write letters anymore. They scrawl hasty messages in note cards or send email, or texts. Therefore stationery is almost a thing of the past. I felt the strangest urge to cry today when I realized that. I remember my grandma reading letters from distant family as a means to catch up. She would be so happy to read their words....
What does that say about technology? Does it steal our means to communicate in a more meaningful way? With a letter you reach a level of connection that I just don't think an email can achieve. Maybe I am wrong, but it is really worth testing the theory. So I challenge all of you to put the theory to the test.
Even if you don't buy stationery, sit down and write someone a hand-written letter at least two pages long. Then come back and tell me if you could recreate that special feeling with an email. I am curious to see if anyone else can?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Letter-writing a dying art or something special? A Challenge
Today I went to my mailbox and was thrilled to see a beautiful envelope embossed with a treble clef and musical notes. I opened it with a growing sense of excitement. Inside was the first real letter I have received in years.
I read through it, and then read through it again. My friend in Tokyo has begun writing letters to brighten peoples' day. I decided almost instantly how nice it would be to send her a letter back. I went in search of stationery. Do you know I drove all the way across town. I stopped at these stores: Walgreen's, Micheal's, Hallmark, Office Max, Target, Fred Meyers, and last but not least Walmart. No luck until Walmart. If I had known that I would have stopped there first.
The reason I had avoided Walmart to begin with is, because when I checked online they had nothing. I bought a nice set, of which they only had two, and I will be writing her back. The sad thing is people do not write letters anymore. They scrawl hasty messages in note cards or send email, or texts. Therefore stationery is almost a thing of the past. I felt the strangest urge to cry today when I realized that. I remember my grandma reading letters from distant family as a means to catch up. She would be so happy to read their words....
What does that say about technology? Does it steal our means to communicate in a more meaningful way? With a letter you reach a level of connection that I just don't think an email can achieve. Maybe I am wrong, but it is really worth testing the theory. So I challenge all of you to put the theory to the test.
Even if you don't buy stationery, sit down and write someone a hand-written letter at least two pages long. Then come back and tell me if you could recreate that special feeling with an email. I am curious to see if anyone else can?
I read through it, and then read through it again. My friend in Tokyo has begun writing letters to brighten peoples' day. I decided almost instantly how nice it would be to send her a letter back. I went in search of stationery. Do you know I drove all the way across town. I stopped at these stores: Walgreen's, Micheal's, Hallmark, Office Max, Target, Fred Meyers, and last but not least Walmart. No luck until Walmart. If I had known that I would have stopped there first.
The reason I had avoided Walmart to begin with is, because when I checked online they had nothing. I bought a nice set, of which they only had two, and I will be writing her back. The sad thing is people do not write letters anymore. They scrawl hasty messages in note cards or send email, or texts. Therefore stationery is almost a thing of the past. I felt the strangest urge to cry today when I realized that. I remember my grandma reading letters from distant family as a means to catch up. She would be so happy to read their words....
What does that say about technology? Does it steal our means to communicate in a more meaningful way? With a letter you reach a level of connection that I just don't think an email can achieve. Maybe I am wrong, but it is really worth testing the theory. So I challenge all of you to put the theory to the test.
Even if you don't buy stationery, sit down and write someone a hand-written letter at least two pages long. Then come back and tell me if you could recreate that special feeling with an email. I am curious to see if anyone else can?
1 comments:
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Crystal, yay you and yay to your friend for writing letters! I am a big fan of letters, influenced by my grandmother. All she did all day long was write letters to people all over the place. She was amazing.
Come check out A Passion for Letter Writing! -
February 28, 2009 at 9:32 AM
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1 comments:
Crystal, yay you and yay to your friend for writing letters! I am a big fan of letters, influenced by my grandmother. All she did all day long was write letters to people all over the place. She was amazing.
Come check out A Passion for Letter Writing!
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