Today, while I was talking to a friend online, I used the phrase “Dear Sam”. In response to this, I received a “Hi”. A response, which is perfectly par for the course, or at least I hope it is. I sometimes interject “Dear (name)” into my conversations online, normally when there has been a noticeable gap in replies. As mentioned above, people always seem to reply “Hello”, as though they are under the impression that “Dear (name)” is a greeting of some sort. Dear, in most cases, is used as an adjective and I must say that in general, pleasant greetings do not come in the form of adjectives. However, when used in connection with a name, this adjective provokes a sort of “greeting-like” reaction.
This led me to thinking. So, I remarked, to the person with whom I was speaking, on the fact that no one writes letters anymore. For it is surely from the days of pen-pals that we began to look at “Dear” as both a greeting and opening into what we are sure is meant to be a well thought through conversation or piece of writing.
When you look into your mailbox each morning, you do not expect letters. We expect; bills, fliers, advertisements, bank statements, maybe a postcard, at best. In fact, if I was to open my mailbox and find a fully written informative letter from a friend or family member, I would be shocked! I would be far more surprised, if this letter was written by hand rather then being typed and well spell-checked.
It is not that I begrudge the age of technology its many advances. I am the first to admit that I cannot spell and I do not write letters. In fact there are many benefits to things like email and instant messaging. They are obviously faster means of communication and they require minimal use of paper. It just seems to me, to be a bit of a shame, a bit of a loss. There are so many things that we used to have and used to do that are simply no longer done.
For me, writing letters is something I miss. It seems so much more personal to sit and write, for one person. To tell them about your day, your month, or year, and to ask about theirs in language that is not comprised of “lol” and “n2m”. It takes time and thought to write a letter. You know that the person will take the time and care enough to read the whole letter, maybe more then once. You realise that just getting a letter, will probably brighten their day and of course, when it comes to letters, length is always encouraged.
I suppose you are wondering how a long letter, about letters, makes much sense. The thing is, that I have decided that I want to right letters again. To whomever I feel the urge, friends, family, historical figures, the powers that be, newspapers, websites, and really anything at all. I will be doing this in a blog. A letter blog. It may take away some of the personal references in the letters, but letters they still are. I shall try hard to write at least two letters a week.
What will be in these letters, you wonder? Well, my opinions, frustrations, worries, thank-you’s, miss you’s, special mentions of all kinds, and other randomness. I also will include one “word of the day” in the post script.
A letter is not worth writing if no one is meant to respond. Please feel free to comment and discuss, as you feel the urge. Do you miss letter writing? Has technology robbed you of an old passion? Has something else? What’s the last letter you’ve written and to who?
Wishing you the best,
Abbey-Lea
P.S. Letter - a written or printed communication addressed to a person or organization and usually transmitted by mail
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