I was clearing out some old papers the other day, and I came across a bunch of cards — birthdays, Anniversary, Christmas, Easter, Get Well Soon, Congratulations …
They were from my mother who passed on three years ago. I went through the cards and began reminiscing — sure brought a tear to my eye and set me thinking. She loved sending cards, and she made sure to write a few lines as well with news about herself and questions about us. Reading through those cards brought back wonderful memories. They gave me a warm fuzzy feeling — yes, I felt good.
In this fast-paced world that we live in today, life is always in “Fast Forward” and we have no time or inclination to stand and stare.
It’s a waste of time to stop to smell the roses, to try the road not taken, to lie in bed and relax.
I remember as a young boy using postcards, inlands, aerograms and stamped envelopes to write to relatives and friends. The joys of putting pen to paper is a long lost art and something that the present and future generation will consider a waste of time.
Very few people, including me, send a card by mail any more — not sure when was the last time I licked a stamp and stuck it on an envelope. Yes, we licked the stamps! Maybe yukky, but it was done by almost everyone!
The whole process of writing with your hands, folding, inserting, addressing the envelope, sticking postage stamps and finally posting the letter in a post office is time-consuming for the present generation, and people are running out of time, or so they feel.
However, with each day serving as a linguistic frenzy and a meaningless race against time, we find that words and sentences often aren’t used in the way we so desire.
Losing its sentiment
Small talk with awkward co-workers, someone bragging about their cute, newborn, 7-pound baby on Facebook or telling the world where they went for dinner and what they ate, group projects with deadweight members — it is all very transient and often discouraging and totally uninspiring.
I, for one, have started to wonder when communication became so cold and meaningless. When did conversation with another human being lose its sentiment? When did we start speaking in 140 characters or less? You can’t possibly get to know the depths of another human like this, nor can you adequately express your feelings towards them. It’s often rude the way we try and abbreviate anything and everything.
So there were job applications, greeting cards on occasions, friendly letters to family, letters to pen pals and love letters.
I have known of friends who wrote and received a letter every day for over a three-year span to and from a to-be-spouse, and they have been married for over 30 years!
Today a letter isn’t a fast enough way to communicate.
In this age of the internet and social media everything is instant — even things like Yahoo!, Hotmail and Gmail are ancient now. It’s the age of WhatsApp and Messenger.
So you have to suffice with OMG, ROTFL, SCNR and a hundred more. Some of these are so confusing that at my age I have to google to see what is being meant!
Just yesterday I was chatting with an old pupil of mine who is settled in Canada.
By the time he had finished, I had learnt a thing or two — YMMD (You made my day), FACK (Fully acknowledge), IMHO (In my humble opinion), and TIA (Thanks in advance). He sure was polite but definitely short of time!
Old fashioned letters and cards are irreplaceable. They act as a reminder to the recipient, a reminder that they are truly loved; that they are valued; that their relationship with you is still very much alive. You simply can’t put a price on that.
Michael Guzder is an educational professional, who writes for pleasure and blogs for fun.
