The Art of Letter Writing

The following was inspired by a piece by Garrison Keillor called "How to Write a Letter":

I feel and fear that the art of letter writing is a lost one. And, it is my duty as a creative-artist type person to try to revive it, or at least not let it die and fade away into oblivion to be forgotten by almost all of the future generation. Yes, if we had really wanted to know up-to-date information of each others' lives, there are plenty of other quicker, more efficient means of doing so than writing a letter. There's email, facebook, twitter, blogs, texts, phone calls (another near-dying means of communication) in which we could learn of each others' lives as they happen.

But, letter writing has nothing to do with that. Yes, perhaps in a more primitive time when the only means of communication was by messenger, the letter was a vehicle of transferring prevalent information. But, really, since the telegram and beyond, there wasn't a real need any more as letter as conduit of information.

Granted, some use it still to inform like for those in third world countries or those cut off from modern conveniences and technologies... like missionaries. But, for the rest of us in the modern, internet-connected world, what is the need for writing letters?

We have so many ways to stay connected to each other that we have lost the very connection that these new technologies were meant to improve and keep in tact.

Which brings me to my point... letter writing. We must go back to the basics, the more primitve, early means of communication to repair the damage done by our own ambition.

Those that have gotten a handwritten letter before can vouch for the giddy, child-like joy and glee you feel when you receive such a thing in the mail. It's almost like waking up on Christmas morning and seeing just what Santa brought you. A letter is something tangible that you can keep forever and show your posterity that people loved and cared enough about you to take the time to sit down and write you a letter.

I don't know about your parents, but my parents lived about an hour away from each other while they were dating. So, to keep the "flame alight," so to speak, they wrote letters. My parents have a box of letters and cards they had sent to each other, and looking at them now helps remind me that my parents were young once, too. I just got to say, it will be incredibly hard to show your kids the facebook messages, emails, and texts you exchanged with their father while you were dating. It's not like you can store them in a hat box in the closet.

How we get to know our ancestors are through their letters, their journals, and their keepsakes that they left behind. How will our future posterity know us? By searching for our abandoned blogs and long forgotten online profile pages? Unless we go and print all of our emails and blog entries, how will anyone know about us? What if the internet isn't around in the future, or at least what we know now as the internet?

To leave our mark on the world, it can't be through our Twitter feed. We must again take up letter writing. Even if it's a short, quick note with only a few lines. The person who receives it will know you cared enough about them to do it and will understand why it had to be short. You'll feel good about yourself as you stamp and mail the letter off.

Why? Because you will not be forgotten; your life will be remembered through the letter, and others you send like it, and you will leave your mark on the world.

Besides...I got to use up these Christmas stamps I have left over from sending cards!