by Ellen McAllister
I get about thirty emails a day. They are usually alerting me to some meeting I have to attend or someone asking for my help to resolve an issue. Zero of them are from people genuinely checking in. All of them need something from me and I am expected to respond in a professional and timely manner. Even though emails are instantaneous and can be received in mere minutes, their uniqueness and importance has decreased overtime. Thanks to technology, we can now talk to people anytime we want, anywhere in the world, and they can reply back with a silly filter or a video and never actually answer our questions or ask about our day. The individualization of communication is a dying art. We are expected to answer every message as soon as we can, so we do not miss out on anything. But do we ever stop to truly think about the person we are messaging? Are they having a good day? Have they read any cool books lately or listened to a fascinating new podcast? We will probably never know because we are too concerned about the content of our message than the actual recipient.
That is why I love handwritten letters. There is something so special about going to the post office to buy stamps and taking a moment to pause and think about what you want to say because cards only have so much space. An email can take 30 seconds to write and send and will probably have very little thought involved. A handwritten letter on the other hand, takes a lot longer to write and compose, in addition to the letter being dropped off at the post office. It could take several weeks before you get a reply, but that makes it all the more worthwhile.
People who choose to write letters genuinely care about your day. They care about what food you ate or ask how your new job is. They are taking the time out of their busy schedule to write you a personalized letter and then they have to wait patiently until you have enough time to write them a letter back.
Some of the people that I write letters to I haven’t spoken to face-to-face in several years. Letters, and the occasional text, have been our primary forms of communication. I have friends I met during study abroad with whom I write back and forth and it has been so rewarding to keep up with their lives in this way. My friend from high school, who is the worst texter on the planet, sends me handwritten letters every so often, usually with a little treat inside. When my roommate went to London, we messaged on Snapchat and filled each other in on the daily tidbits of our lives, but the best part was getting a piece of mail from her, all the way from London. Some of my most favorite letters come from a recess aid I had in kindergarten, who sends me letters sporadically to wish me well at school or with updates about her grandkids.
Handwritten letters are no longer the norm in the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, but they might be some of the most interesting and thoughtful conversations you might have. So, go pick up a pen and piece of paper and make the trek to the post office and send a letter to someone who least expects it.