A Lost Art

​In an age of instant communication, we have forgotten the importance of actually writing letters and sending greeting cards. My friend Cindy in South Dakota is in her late 70’s. She and I exchange letters regularly, although she has an iPhone. Another friend who is younger than I, sends a greeting card each week and I reciprocate. These cards include brief, handwritten notes. I look forward to going to the mailbox late in every week.
Unfortunately, letter writing is becoming a lost art. Digital communication is quicker and more convenient. Skype and FaceTime allow us to see the people we love and hear their voices. Those are wonderful technological advances, but there is something about “snail mail” that is endearing and heartwarming. My fifteen-year-old calls it “vintage communication,” but she smiles big when she receives a letter from “Grandma Cindy” that details her adventures and misadventures in the South Dakota snow. There is something about handwritten letters. Here are a few observations I have made:

1. Greeting cards and handwritten letters require intentionality. You can’t voice text to a pen and there is no greeting card generator at the local pharmacy. You have to choose your words and put them on paper. Choosing a greeting card takes time. A poorly thought out card can send the wrong message, whereas a card carefully chosen can brighten someone’s entire day. Time and intent are required in letter writing. It takes both to choose the write words to convey thoughts and news. When we sit at a computer, we can easily delete what we don’t like, but handwritten letters require much more effort.
2. Handwriting provides a personal touch. Like fingerprints, handwriting is unique. My sister gave me a platter for Christmas that had my grandmother’s handwritten recipes on it. I think it was the first time I have ever cried on Christmas day, but I recognized that perfect swirly script immediately upon unboxing it. Nobody else wrote like she did. The same is for handwritten letters. They are the personal touch that we lack so much. There is not a font on any word processing software that I love as much as I love either of my grandmothers’ penmanship.
3. Actually, writing letters means that I interrupt my rat-race schedule and get quiet and reflective. It’s good to sit down, breathe deeply and write.
4. Letters are worth saving. Entire books have been published containing letters. These books provide raw, personal insight into time periods and historical situations that are will never be seen again. Change is constant, but letters capture the significance and the thoughts of those who lived during these times.  Some of my favorite books based on letters include Sebastian Faulks’s A Broken World: Letters, Diaries and Memories of the Great War, Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote, the letters between John and Abigail Adams in My Dearest Friend and A Life in Letters: F. Scott Fitzgerald.  These people lived and experienced life much different than I have and connecting their personal thoughts to historical fact is fun.
5. They make going to the mailbox fun. Even in the age of instant digital communication and paperless billing, I do not personally know of anyone who has been able to completely do away with their mailbox of post office box. They may not check it daily, but it’s still there. We know that bills are going to come each month and magazines, catalogs and the unavoidable “junk mail,” but what catches my eye are the envelopes with the hand-lettering. I know that someone has written something just for me when I see those. It makes a difference!

Yes, postage rates have increased recently, but $0.50 is a small price to pay to send a letter across the country or across town to let someone I love know that I am thinking of them. It makes a difference for both the recipient and the writer.
 Side note—one of the best cards I ever received was from a fourth- grade student for Teacher Appreciation Week more than a decade ago. It was a sympathy card. Yes! The note inside was precious. “Mrs. Courington, I love you. This is a sad card, but it’s the only one I had at my house. I drew happy faces for you.”
Handwritten words matter, so do hand-drawn happy faces.