by Madeleine KandoWhile I was cleaning out my basement I found some old, musty boxes stuffed with hundreds of letters. Most of them were written on thin blue Air Mail paper with one edge pre-glued, so that you didn't have to stuff it in an envelope.
I started reading these old old letters. They were from my sister, my mother, my lovers.. Many of them written by people I don't even remember: Ilse, Gerry, Lisa.. Who were they? Was I a good friend to them? Did they also find letters in their basement and tried to remember who this 'Madeleine' was?
I realized, as I was reading these long narratives, that letter writing as a way of communicating, has disappeared forever.
Writing letters was important. It was a window onto a far-away friend's life. You could call them, of course, but the flavor of the carefully chosen words on paper conjured up a unique image of the writer that no other medium could create.
My sister's letters were charming, without pretense, full of warmth and humor. Letter writing was like an intimate conversation between two individuals that is completely lacking in communication tools today. I found letters that reprimanded me for not writing more, there were funny letters, sad letters, unreadable letters..
Letters lets you travel back in time and have the magic power of immortalizing moments of long ago. Even after all this time, these musty old letters had lost none of their power to conjure up a vivid image of the person who had sat down and taken the time to handwrite them.
They were written to one person, maybe two or three, at the most. They were fairly long and detailed. As I write this, I realize that I belong to the last generation of letter writers. My daughters still wrote letters when they were children but theirs is the first 'non-letter writing generation'.
Emails can be detailed but they usually aren't. In fact, email feels more like talking than writing. A friend that I have known for most of my life and with whom I recently reconnected with on Facebook, tried to reassure me that his emails would be short and to the point, so that taking up contact with him would not be a burden.
Facebook is even less communication-friendly. The more friends you have, the less significant the information becomes that you are trying to share. Texting, of course, has nothing to do with letter writing. It should be called the electronic version of the telegram.
We have entered the 'junk food' phase in our ability to communicate. We have become addicted to the quick fix, the easily digestible sound bite. At first, I liked the instant, uncomplicated way of communicating with Skype and Facebook. But now I am aware of its vast limitations. It forces me to abort any meaningful thought that comes into my head. After all, how important can anything be if it can be obliterated with a push of the delete button? leave comment here
5 comments:
Historians have often used personal letters as a main source of research. It helped them write insightful biographies that help us understand history and people who made history like, say, MLK Jr. or Emma Goldman.
Since personal emails are ...regularly deleted, historians won't have that source anymore. And the next generation won't have the chance to understand the feelings of their grandparents, as expressed in those old letters.
But who knows how long humans will endure anyway, at the rate we are multiplying, and polluting our air, water, soil and atmosphere? I think "Homo Sapiens" is a misnomer, unfortunately. We are the least wise mammal on earth.
Jan: you are so right about letters having had such an important role in history and the development of knowledge: Darwin, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln.. they all shared their thoughts through letters.
I hope you are wrong about Homo Sapiens. Although we won't find out through letter writing, that's gone forever.
You summarized your article beautifully with the last paragraph.
I found a nice exception, however, when receiving many (long) letters with condolences after my wife passed away. And that from friends and relatives young and old.
I agree that it is so sad that we no longer write letters. My mother and her sister lived many miles apart. I remember from my childhood how important it was for my mother to receive her sister's letters each week and she would write each week. How I do wish all of those letters had been saved!
Phyllis
That's wonderful, Hans. I think I am right in thinking that it meant more to you than receiving emails.
Phillis: Yes, letters contained a little piece of one's soul. Too bad those days are gone.
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