Chris Belland's - "Hindsights & Insights"
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Dear children: Writing a good letter is becoming a lost art

By CHRIS BELLAND Citizen columnist

I admit it. I'm a "paperphile," if there is such a thing. After writing this, I looked it up and there is, and I am. I love, and I do mean love in a non-personal way, nice paper, embossed stationery, balanced writing instruments using real ink from a well and even wax seals. More than that, I like it when I receive a letter using any or all of these things. I know I like to send them but it's very rare for me to get them. I also like to receive packages wrapped in brown paper, or thick envelopes that don't say IRS on the return address.

Lamentably, in this age of electronic communications, there is less and less of this wonderful way of relating to one another. I even find myself e-mailing when I should call or, more to the point, write a letter. It is almost becoming something we are doing out of habit. For example, I recently found myself e-mailing a note to my son who works on the floor above and can just as easily -- in fact more easily -- be reached by speed dial on my telephone.

Is the demise of verbal and handwritten communication becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy? I don't know, but it is obvious that the art of writing, both in style and form, is going the way of the buggy whip and I, for one, am sad to see it go.

There is something satisfying about holding a letter in your hand and seeing the care with which it is written; the color of the ink on the paper and the writer's calligraphic skills. I am finding more and more that this whole idea of communication with paper and the written word is being threatened at every level. Have you noticed how thin the newspapers are getting? They are as much under siege as the handwritten letter for the want of advertisers and the immediacy of information that is now available on the computer.

I regret this passing almost as much as letter-writing, for there is a serenity about a hot cup of coffee in the morning with which to slowly and deliberately digest the news (horrific headlines excluded) instead of either having your nose rubbed in it on television or having it digested down to the short form in USA Today, or even being a slave to having to have your news right now by computer.

The traditional penmanship that gave us the visceral beauty of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution and, in fact, most legal documents of the 18th and 19th century, is no more. My own memories of repetitively writing my letters is still vivid. In grade school, we called cursive writing "real" writing and wrote the connecting a's, b's and c's with fat, No. 3 pencils on wide, triple-lined paper, not unlike newspaper-quality paper. I am stunned at the lack of writing skills of students today who can "thumb" a Gameboy, one-finger type on a computer and pass an FCAT, but most can't write a well-executed cursive letter with appropriate grammar.

Of course, all of this begs the question, why is this happening? We see it every day and we are willing participants and yet, almost at the same time, we lament the passing of a gentler, slower-paced lifestyle. From the special delivery letter to fax, FedEx and e-mail, the world has progressed to a point of moving too fast for the human mind to not only comprehend, but to appreciate the subtlety of the written word. It is like gobbling food and swallowing it before you even taste it.

In my experience, the most wondrous receipt of a present came to me during my days away at school and was called a "Fannie Box." My grandmother's name was Francis and her nickname was Fannie. When my mother and uncle were off to college, their mother, Fannie, would send periodic parcels containing homemade cookies, pencils, photos, gum, paper, books and generally a little piece of love from home -- and the name "Fannie Box" stuck. It has been a tradition in our family ever since, and the best thing I ever got in the mail. These parcels were always in brown paper tied with string, mysterious and welcome.

By the way, and in the same vein, the most powerful piece of communication, in my opinion, is still the "thank-you" note. What says that you appreciate something more than taking time to write? When did you do it last? When did you get one? How sad if your answer is "not recently".

Chris Belland's Hindsights & Insights column appears here on Sundays. Belland also writes a biweekly column on environmental issues, which runs in our Sunday magazine, Solares Hill. All of his previous columns are available on his blog: hindsightsandinsights.blogspot.com. Contact Chris at cbelland@keysnews.com.