In Defense of Letter Writing

Does anyone still email?

I don’t mean those poor buggers who work in veal-fattening pens – otherwise known as office cubicles (thank you, Douglas Coupland) – and send emails related to work; I’m talking about personal, friendly correspondence.

The Facebook has taken over this function. And if one was prone to punching out a one-line, four-word “So how’s it going?” email, an FB message would be even shorter. Along the lines of “Howzit, china?” if you’re of the South African persuasion.

I know it’s a bit pathetic that my heart is warmed when, upon opening my inbox, I see an email from my mum. So you can only imagine the Lepidoptera-storm in my stomach when through the letterbox falls an actual, handwritten letter from the same dear mother-of-mine.

I’m sad like that.

An uncle used to always give Greg and me writing paper for Christmas. It would usually have a character along the lines of Garfield or He-Man in the bottom right corner, and the same image on the envelope.

A bit of a crap present when you’re seven or eight, and possibly more than a mite contrived. I think we used the paper to write him a thank-you note and never again.

We knew that next Xmas we’d get more so we never saved it.

Maybe it made an impression, though, because these days I love writing letters. Well, it’s not really the writing I love, but the thought of someone expecting the usual bills and pizza delivery menus in their letterbox only to find an actual, handwritten letter.

Sure, my hand aches and cramps up slightly. But at least it’s for a more noble reason than it was when I was sixteen.

I don’t think what’s in the letter is important. It doesn’t have to be well-written or exciting, but to think that someone took the time to sit down and carefully write something out just for you – that is worth more than a hundred emails and a million text messages.

It’s a hint that you’re getting old when you reminisce about how things are a-changing and moan about them, so I’m not going to moan but rather try to encourage even just one person to write a letter to someone they know.

Even if it’s your wife and you’re sending it to the house you both live in – nothing is more romantic than a love letter from the person who’s crumpled face you see on the pillow next to you every morning.

One of the greatest things you can do is make someone feel special and loved. Another is to inspire someone. Sending a letter is an easy way to make someone feel special. And, who knows, you might just inspire them to do the same.