The Art of Correspondence

Lately I've thought about the decrease in writing correspondence, namely letters and hand written notes that convey either sympathy, greetings, congratulations or simply love.  I've written at least two using note cards  before the holidays and mailed them to people I know in other countries.  They appreciated the notes and made a personal call as a result of the notes.  I felt very good about that.  Long time ago I had pen pals when I was growing up in Brooklyn, New York.  Now I'm dating myself!  It was a very fulfilling past-time and I was always checking the mail for a new letter from my pen pals.

In the current times most people use Facebook, Twitter, various Instant Messaging (IM) services and Blackberry Messaging (BBM), etc.  I've only used IM and BBM.  These services and SMS embody their own linguistic challenges depending on the age of the user.  I find that the older user does not grasp this jargon or code.  On the opposite spectrum it is virtually the only language used by the younger users.  While I know this code and do use it from time to time I normally prefer the predictive text feature on my cellphone.  I can't help that I have a love for words and that I want them to be used and spelled correctly.  I will not open a Facebook or Twitter account.  I prefer not to use these services as a matter of personal choice.  I tend to be a private person and prefer to limit the amount of information that I display publicly.

The very first IM service was ICQ.  How many of you remember that service?  It was revolutionary and exciting to be able to send a short written message between one or more persons and get a quick reply within a few seconds.  Since that time there has been an explosion of  all kinds of IM services online and on our cellphones.  I moved on to use AOL, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, in that exact order.  I still use Yahoo Messenger but not as much as I did when it was first introduced to online users.  I've used the BBM when I had that type of phone for my cellphone service.  Today everything is geared towards instant gratification.  We don't have to wait for a letter or note card in the mail.

I'm striving to balance that out with mailing a personal note to a friend or relative from time to time.  I've already gotten back into the habit of sending postcards since I travel quite a lot.  I have mailed letters to various companies to complain about services or to commend someone's extra efforts at a particular company.  So that will not change.  I think this way of handling correspondence is good for my soul as I am working on bringing things into balance in my life.  It's a wise saying that, "Too much of a good thing is no good!"  I feel having balance in life is important for continued growth.

I'm happy to find out that in the public schools writing is still in the curricula.   There are some schools that encourage writing by holding writing contests.  The children who participate are awarded for their endeavors in this art form.  This is good as we need to develop future writers.

To keep written correspondence alive perhaps we should stop and think which one of our family, friends or work colleagues would appreciate a hand written letter or note.  You might be pleasantly surprised by the joy this may bring to someone you know and/or love.

Let's try to do this.