Letters: Remember them?
REMEMBER them
Yesterday I got from a friend of mine an eight-page handwritten letter on loose-leaf paper. I tried to read it standing up. That simply did not work; the handwriting, though not bad, made it impossible to scan. It forced me to read. READ.
Which I started to think that maybe I haven't done in several years.
So I poured a glass of wine and followed my friend's hand through five or six subjects before reaching his apologetic conclusion, "This is the longest letter I've written longhand in at least a year. Let's attribute the fuck ups in it to an atrophied writing arm rather than an atrophied brain, OK?"
I once kept track of how many e-mails that pass through this computer. I discovered that I send 1,000 e-mails a month and receive many more than that.
Getting this single, solitary letter was like getting an old prized possession that I never knew I had.
I sent Pat an e-mail telling him so.
Comments (1)
David, I stumbled across your blog while scrolling back through the thousands of emails I get every day.
Yes, handwriting is a lost art, remember the old Lincoln Town Car commercial about having such a smooth ride that it did not disturb the little girl's perfect penmanship? (and the hilarious SNL skit on the rabbi doing the bris in the back seat of the Lincoln Town Car?)
I think handwriting stands out in this email-blog world as being more personal, that it actually takes more time and is more original than an email. Handwriting is still more appropriate for thank you notes of course. I think in the not too distant future there will be almost no handwritten communication, most likely when the Greatest Generation passes on. If I want to write something to my mom, for example, I have to handwrite it because she does not have a computer. She still thinks typing is impersonal, but, she also complains about my handwriting being illegible!
Keep the blog coming!
Tom Hanley
Director, Public Relations
Connecticut Children's Medical Center
Posted by Tom Hanley | January 10, 2005 2:27 PM
Posted on January 10, 2005 14:27