I wonder if people put the effort into an email that they might put in a handwritten letter. The composer of an e-mail knows it will be read, but also knows it will probably be read only once, and then spit out into cyberspace somewhere. A handwritten letter is so much more intimate (I'm speaking of personal letters here). I enjoy looking at different handwriting styles, seeing postmarks from around the world, and when I was younger, my girlfriends and I would decorate our letters with stickers and drawings.
I can't think of any woman who wouldn't rather receive a handwritten love letter over a love e-mail, and what's this business of being dumped by e-mail? Some people can't even take the time to end a relationship properly; rather they e-mail the news, or even worse, text someone that they are being dumped!
I'm beginning to wonder if kids even pass notes anymore. Now, it's all about the text message. Everything is about speed. How fast can I get this done? As compared to pre-e-mail or pre SMS, if you don't get a return on your end of the conversation immediately, you worry. You want that return in less than 60 seconds or your feelings are hurt. I remember getting excited about checking the mail, hoping to get a letter from a long distance friend, or even a local one. If it weren't there that day, I would get excited about checking it the next, and so on.
When you use your actual hands to write, I think your brain has more time to be creative. Typing goes more quickly, so you're just writing on an instant capacity. When I taught school, I would have my students write their rough draft papers by hand, edit it, and not type anything until the end. Typing is so mechanic. As a writer, I tend to prefer longhand when I write, but what I actually end up doing is typing it and editing it about ten times before I am satisfied.
I have thought about buying stationery for all my friends to inspire them to handwrite a letter every once in a while, if not to me, then to someone else, but I have never followed through. I know that box of stationery would sit on a shelf and collect dust, and I just might get a thank you, by e-mail of course.
I suppose the best thing about handwritten letters is what I mentioned initially; I can go through that trunk of mine anytime and read something someone wrote me years ago. The longer I wait between readings, the more fun it is. It's been about 5-10 years this go round, so I think it's time to pull some out, get comfortable with some hot chocolate, and step back in time.
Don't get me wrong -- e-mail is a wonderful invention. It's just too bad that it had to wipe out an even better one.
