Friday, January 09, 2009

The Lost Art of Written Communication

So, yesterday, after Writer Girl's prompting, I was nice to FIL. When I saw him unloading fifty-pound bags of grain, I offered to help. We chatted and had a nice conversation. It didn't kill me. I guess I can do this! Mind or mouth as the saying goes.

___________________________________

I use to be a letter writer, but as the sands of time flowed through the glass I found myself with less and less time to correspond. Then email came to live in our house and less time was devoted to handwriting. So sad. Why, I even became annoyed with a friend who refuses to use email. I know you're shocked; someone who doesn't use email!

As I lay in bed the other night I started to compile a list of letters, notes, and thank-you cards that needed to be written. It was a very long list. I promised myself that I would complete this task before the weekend.

And I did.

It felt great to pull out thank-you cards and get-well cards. I remembered how much I enjoy receiving something in the post besides bills. I have keepsakes written in my Omi's own hand (half in English/half in German), little notes of love from my Beloved, scrawls and scribbles from my children and note cards from friends. Each represents a part of my life and I hope that when my children, grand children, even great-grand children read them, that they will be touched by the correspondence.

Email is wonderful, it truly is. Yet, I can't help but wish we'd all write more. I recently read that some school districts are dropping handwriting. Gone are the days when penmanship mattered. Think of the history that will be lost because ordinary folks didn't write it down.

So, your assignment, should you choose to accept, is to write someone a little note. Use your best handwriting and nice stationary or a cute note card. It's a little thing, it truly is, but a handwritten note will trump an email every time.

At least in my book.

6 comments:

TexasRed said...

Great chappenge. I have 2 thank you notes on my "To Do" list today that I haven't gotten around to yet.

tootie said...

I love writing (and receiving) real letters! I completely agree - e-mail is great, but nothing beats a real letter to hold in your hands and keep.

Sandcastle Momma said...

We have a box of old love letters that my husband's grandparents wrote back and forth to each other during the war. Very cool and reading them makes me miss the days of stationary and handwritten letters. I love your challenge and am going to write a letter today.

Ice Cream said...

I accept your challenge. I could have written this post myself. What happened to me?

Ha! My word verification is "witer". Just missing the R.

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Great challenge, Annie. Hmm, seems like I know a few folks who could use a special note. :)

I think you're right about losing a lot of our communications. After all, how many people save emails?

Blessings,
Susan :)

Kristen said...

Couldn't agree more. I actually love writing notes, and rarely let an opporunity to write at least a thank-you note pass me by.