Yet another reason why we should write more letters
When I got my first typewriter two years ago, I started writing more letters. But it was something I recently read in Anna Quindlen's Write for Your Life that changed my perspective on letters from a thoughtful gesture to a deed, and I don’t hesitate to say this, with historical significance and responsibility.
Quindlen writes:
“Letters are different today than they were when they were a necessity. In the twenty-first century I do not send a letter because I want to tell you something. I do it because I want to give you something, something personal and long-lasting. There’s a reason why we always envision a cache of letters tied up with a ribbon. It’s because they are a gift.”
Quindlen then tells a few stories about letter exchanges between people throughout history that depict emotions and events that would otherwise be lost. And finishes the book with these words:
“We need the words of people whose words were unremarked in histories of the past. If those unaccustmed to the act of everyday writing can find ways to recover that urge to sit down and produce thoughts, letters for the children, their friends, the future, we will not only know what happened during their lifetimes, we will know how it felt. As Anne Frank showed the world, as the Freedom Writers learned themselves, history is our story. Those who write it own it, today and always. Why not you?”
Reading this, I realized I wanted to write a letter to a dear friend for his birthday. Our relationship was made possible by the Internet: first through chat conversations, then through long emails. I'm tempted to print out those emails and tied them up with a ribbon, just as in the provided quote, to have something tangible from our conversations…
If you're reading this entry, use this opportunity to write to someone you care about who you haven't spoken to in a long time. Spend some time planning a piece of personal and thoughtful writing. I'm sure it'll be appreciated. Anna Quindlen has inspired me to do the same.
