The Lost Art of Letter-Writing

I like history. And old things.

As I read, I receive insight into how people lived in other eras and/or in other countries, and sometimes I wonder if they didn't do certain things better than we. One of those things is communication.

For all our technology, for all our MEANS of communication, we don't actually do it very well. We "say" a lot without really saying anything at all. We're so busy building our perfect public image that we're not always honest even with those closest to us. And there is absolutely nothing romantic or exciting about email. Nothing.

Now, you may not agree with me. You may fall into the Luke Danes school of thought: "Everything in the past was so quaint, so charming. Times were simpler, kids didn't have sex, neighbors knew each other. It's a friggin' fairy tale. Things sucked then, too, they just sucked without indoor plumbing."

And I'm not suggesting we resurrect outhouses and chamber pots. But what happened to good, old-fashioned letter-writing? I'm not talking about a birthday or get-well card with a sentence or two jotted inside. I'm talking about an Actual Letter.

I understand that, say, your boss may not love it if you wrote and posted him a hand-written note every time he had a question. But your friends? Your family? Will our children grow up without ever learning the joy of having a pen pal, of eagerly checking the mail every day to see if a letter has come?

Sure, typing is easier. But there is such a joy in putting pen to paper, of the experience of writing in that way. Do we really want that to be lost?

I say we resurrect the lost art of letter writing. Who's with me?