Going Postal

06/02/2009

Technology astounds me!  It seems like every day I learn of something new that makes our lives faster, easier, better.  Microwave cooking takes literally a touch of the finger and never more than a few minutes of your time.  Seat warmers in the car in the middle of February are seemingly sent directly from Heaven.  The capabilities of the iPod Touch blow my mind.  And I’m sitting here at home, working.  A far better fit for me than being at the office.

For sure there are times that the new technology proves to be only newer and shinier and not really any better than the old, but we tend to embrace it anyway, just because it’s new.  I mean, is there really an enjoyable way to clean the toilet?  Regardless if you’re sticking your hand in and wiping it down with a cloth, or using a new, expandable, pivoting wand that stores cleaner in the handle, in the long run, you’re still cleaning the toilet.  There are many other inventions that do make things faster and easier, but does that inherently mean that it makes them better?  Not always.

My Inbox is not the most fascinating reading.  It’s filled with pleas to “Save Our Schools” and soccer schedules and coupons for free shipping.  Oftentimes, there’s a message from a family member or friend, which is always great but usually filled with a question or a favor or a “just checking in”.   Sometimes, some pretty funny jokes come through.  But it’s not often a “let me tell you this funny story” kind of thing.  With NO offense to the people who do e-mail me, opening my Inbox rarely puts a smile on my face.

Going to the mailbox doesn’t often make me smile either, seeing that it usually only brings junk mail and bills,  but it did yesterday when I found inside a small, hand written envelope, containing a card from a friend who lives in California.  Just seeing her name in the upper left corner made me happy.  The stickers she used to decorate the back were so pretty that I hated to tear them.  And then when I opened it, I saw that it was a handmade card, with a watercolor scene on the front.  How lovely.   I was smiling as I read her note, saying that it was 10:00 at night and she had a precious moment to herself.  I could absolutely envision her, sitting at her table, though I’ve never been to her home.  She could have sat down at her computer instead, and sent me an e-mail; but she chose to sit down at the table and paint a simple and stunningly beautiful scene, one that makes me ache to see her again.  When my husband and kids came in, I waved the card at them saying “Did you see my beautiful card?”, something I have never done with an e-mail.  I’m looking at the card now, and smiling.

I don’t know if my kids have ever really written a letter – or at least one that wasn’t assigned as homework.  They’ve written their share of thank yous and little notes at the bottom of a Hallmark card, but never really a letter to a friend to say “Hi, here’s what’s going on with me.”  I think that’s very, very sad.  I have a friend who is from Australia and we have nurtured our wonderful friendship through 25 years of letters.  I have every one of them in my closet.  Yet, I think nothing of deleting the messages from friends in my Inbox.  When I was around the age my kids are now, I had a pen pal from Korea.  It was a huge day in our house when a letter from Jai Ho Li arrived!  Everything about the letter was foreign.  The airmail paper was translucently thin and the stamps were SO fascinating.  We could track the letter’s route by reading the postmarks from strange and unknown places.  Seeing his attempts at writing my name and address in a language that was not his own made me realize that I was as exotic and interesting to him as he was to me.  When he couldn’t explain something in his letter with words, he would draw a little picture or diagram.  He once sent a photo of himself in his school uniform, but I didn’t need that.  I had pictured what he looked like long before, just by reading his words.  If we were pen pals now, we’d probably communicate by e-mail and send photos as attachments.  Not quite the same thing.

When I have news of any kind, I usually will send an e-mail saying “I have so much to tell you!  Call me or let’s get together soon.”  I don’t often just spill my guts at the keyboard.  It just doesn’t seem right.  And when I do have to relate news via e-mail, I will often preface it with something like “sorry to have to tell you this via e-mail . . .”, while I would NEVER write that in a letter.  Sending news via letter is kind of the whole point, isn’t it? 

So though postal rates keep climbing and my days only seem to get shorter and busier, I will stick with old-fashioned letter writing whenever I can.  It just works better for me.  It may not be faster or easier, it’s just better.   Better works best for me.