Why Handwritten Letters Should Still Be a Thing | The Odyssey Online
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Why Handwritten Letters Should Still Be a Thing

Nothing is more personal than penmanship.

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Why Handwritten Letters Should Still Be a Thing

There is nothing more special and personal than a handwritten note. In the 21st century, technology has taken over how we communicate with each other. It often makes us forget the significance of words and the message that we want to convey. Nowadays, human beings want everything fast paced. There's no time for actually thinking of the meaning behind the words and the impact they can make on people. Handwritten letters are special. There's something about a person taking the time to actually write what the other person means to them or what they've been up to in life that makes you feel special.

Texting someone a long happy birthday post or Instagraming a collage with a long paragraph can make someone's day, but a handwritten letter can make someone's life. A text is easily forgotten, an Instagram post can easily be deleted in a matter of a day if it doesn't get a certain amount of likes but a letter is not. A letter doesn't require anything but your attention. You can hang it anywhere you want, or keep it privately in a box. It is up to you where a letter can go instead of having it stuck in your phone.

Handwritten letters are also a way to communicate long distance. As a college freshman, I have never appreciated more a letter from my friends and family coming through the mail. It was as if they hadn't forgotten about me, even though I live seven hours away from home now. I love being surprised by a "I miss you" letter from a friend, or a funny "You missed Uncle Walter's Grease Lightning dance last week" note from a cousin. When another person cares enough to write a letter, get an envelope, purchase a stamp and actually send it makes them a special person themselves.

For Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays I write to my close ones a handwritten letter telling them the important role they play in my life and why they are unique to the world. I find it that it makes them smile and sometimes cry because of how rare letters are. People no longer expect for anything meaningful to come from a gift, they do not expect anything personal. It is time that we take back something that technology took from us: meaning. I am not condoning texting, emailing, and messaging but the fact that society no longer wants to "waste" their time with writing.

It is time we all pick up a pencil or pen and just write to someone what we feel or celebrate with someone an occasion. Not every letter needs to be extravagant and full of deep thought, it is just the mere fact that you took a few seconds/minutes to let someone know what they mean to you that is important.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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