An article from CNN says this:
"E-mail is quick. Texting is convenient. Facebook has photos, videos and games.
But for all the fancy, multimedia modes of communication out there, nothing beats the thrill of opening the mailbox and finding a personal letter, written and addressed just to you.
"Snail mail" has been under attack for the past several decades, with the U.S. Postal Service reporting a drop of 10 billion letters in the past 20 years. Literally billions of e-mails and text messages are sent each day. And the Postal Service says that unless something changes very soon, it plans to stop Saturday mail delivery beginning next year."
Email--quick though it may be--does not portray emotion of any kind. Texting is short and and oftentimes insufficient. As humans, we crave attention--the knowledge that other people care about us. Handwritten letters fulfill this desire.
"By going to the trouble of physically committing words to paper, the writer shows their investment of time and effort in a relationship. That's why we tend to hang on to personal letters as keepsakes." (from an article on guardian.co.uk)
In my hope chest there is a secret drawer and in it I keep all the letters I've ever received since I was 5 or 6 years old. Occasionally I like to sort through this drawer, read my birthday cards, letters from my siblings, novels my pen pals have written to me, etc. They bring back memories, they make me laugh and cry---they are full of feeling! I challenge you to begin letter writing if you haven't already.
A good reminder. I still occasionally receive (and even write) letters to the Dows and McBride cousins (and you guys) and it is usually the highlight of my day. :) I always have good intentions of sending more little notes in the mail, and this helped my motivation!
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