The other day, I received a letter from a very thoughtful and kind college friend. The stationary she used happens to be one of my favorite colors, and her words were encouraging. I placed the letter in a box that holds notes even from my elementary school’s mailing services and took a moment to appreciate letters. In a world that values the efficiency of email, text messaging and other instant communication methods, I feel we are losing the art of pressing pen to paper.
Technology has caused great advancement in our society, but I would argue that we lose an amount of sincerity when we choose digital over manual writing. We lose the ink blots from scratching out our mistakes. We miss the P.S. notes because if we forget something in an email, we send another. We click send faster than the brain processes, which can sometimes result in hurt. On the other hand, handwritten notes allow us to analyze how a person is feeling on the day they wrote the note based on the font and size of the letters (this may just be me who does this; there is some article I read long ago that studied handwriting styles). Writers get the opportunity to practice their cursive skills learned from fourth grade. Most people send letters to those who need support in times of tragedy. Most send letters to those who they recently met or interviewed with as a form of respect. Most send them overseas to those we miss. This shows the value of manual writing, so why don’t we use it more often? Wouldn’t this be a fun way to spread love to others?
According to an annual survey by the postal service, the typical home only received a personal letter in the mail every seven weeks in 2010. The lack of snail mail as a form of communication could result in future generations only have memorable messages sent via instant messaging. Instead of sending notes to one another, we are sending selfies, texts with grammatical errors and emojis. In my opinion, digital communication will never be as meaningful as manual writing communication.
My mom was a beautiful woman who recognized the meaningfulness of letters. As I went through college, she continued to write letters or simple notes along with newspaper articles. Each note made me feel closer to her than I was location-wise. While emptying out my room in the college house I lived in for three years, I stumbled upon a note from 2014. The little piece of notebook paper had the handwriting of my mother. I took a deep breath and felt a sense of comfort from recognizing her words and writing style. This note was nothing special. She could have easily taken a picture of the article she included in the letter and sent a text with the same information as in the note, but she chose a more thoughtful option. She took the option of spending 46 cents at the post office, sending it off to be processed, and having the postal service send a note to my door that discussed her day, who she ran into at the grocery store and the reason she sent the newspaper article. A simple act can go a long way.
I pray that our society doesn’t completely lose the art of pressing pen to paper. Readers, I encourage you to send a letter to someone you care about this week. It will make their day. Perhaps they will be as weird as me and save it in a box. Let us keep showing each other love.
