On freshman move-in day, I viscerally remember being handed two items when I first arrived on campus: my dorm room key (for obvious reasons), and a mailbox key. Anyone who knows me know that I’ve always been a sucker for pretty cards, a collector of fancy stationery sets, and a lover of getting handwritten letters in the mail. So to say that I was pumped to have a mailbox entirely of my own would definitely be an understatement.
Well, the reality was not nearly as glorious as the expectation, at least not on the letter front. I ended up never going to the mail room besides to pick up packages, and pretty quickly my friends and I realized that checking our mailboxes was absolutely inessential because we would all always find the little metal box assigned to us devoid of letters. But why?
The answer is fairly obvious: technology. Today’s world moves at a rapid tempo; this isn’t news. There’s no time for any delay; everything needs to be completed instantaneously. Information must be dispersed the moment it is obtained. There’s no time for a time lag, today’s world insists. Thus, “snail mail” has become the least preferred method of communication.
Letter writing has become a lost art, and that makes me incredibly sad. It should make a comeback, because it is far more personal than a simple text or email which lacks emotion. Furthermore, writing a letter is like writing a narrative; it’s interesting to see where your ideas flow and even more exciting to see how the person you are writing to responds to what you have to say. I think there’s something so special about knowing a friend or family member took the time out of their day to sit down and pen a letter especially for you to read. Letters don’t disappear like snaps, or get lost in a mess of other messages like texts can. A letter is physically present for as long as you choose to keep it, so you can reflect a decade from now and re-read a letter. You can’t do that with all of the technology of today. A letter is a window into your life at the time at which it is written. That is what makes letter writing so unique and so worthwhile.
Now I’m not suggesting you go about making plans that you would usually arrange in your group chat via handwritten letter because that would be a disaster (and impractical!). I am, however, suggesting that you send a letter or two this month, or even this year.
It would be an absolute tragedy if the next generation never got to experience the thrill of going to the mailbox and getting a handwritten letter. Snail mail, keep on keeping on!
