Letters

Does anyone still write letters?

I remember a time when my friends and I caught up with each others’ lives by reading the long letters we exchanged by snail mail. Nowadays, if you want to know how a friend is doing, you either go to their Facebook feed, send them a quick hello on Messenger, go through the pictures they posted on Instagram, or read their tweets. Social media has made keeping in touch quick and easy. Yet somehow, I miss sitting down with a pen on my hand and the thoughts on my mind jostling for a turn to be transcribed on the several sheets of paper in front me; pages that I will stuff in an envelope, seal with good wishes, and stamp with the anticipation of a reply. 

Nothing quite captures the exhiliration one feels upon finding a bulky envelope in your mailbox after weeks of waiting, sometimes months. In The Philippines, back in the day, the postal system truly lived up to the “snail mail” categorization, especially in the suburbs. But it was the best kind of delayed gratification.

In a society dependent on instant coffee, ready-to-eat TV dinners, and email, a slow brewed espresso, a sit-down 5-course meal, and a handwritten note shipped via courier from the other side of the world are breaths of fresh air. The speed with which we are able to get things done today is wonderful and I can’t even begin to imagine how particularly frustrating it would be if I don’t receive the shoes that I ordered online within a day or two as promised. But I also know how much different we would be if we don’t always get what we want the moment we want them. 

Is there a chance that we are taking away the inconvience of having to go to the market to shop for groceries, the hassle of waiting in line at an ATM to get cash, and the annoyance of needing to get up from bed to turn off the lights at the risk of losing certain virtues such as patience? I wonder if we are raising a generation of people with low emotional quotients who, when you talk of timing, only know of "now". Now could be good. Isn’t seizing the moment better than putting it off for another day? But there are things that are better later, tomorrow, or 10 years from now. Things that require a level of maturity and sense of responsibility like marriage, having children, or buying a car.

This is not to say that we ought to go back to the pre-internet or pre-smartphone era. God knows how challenging my life would be without my iPhone, especialy when driving (GPS!). But I think a change of pace, trying out the basics, and writing a long handwritten letter to a friend every now and then could be good for our souls.

Wrote 3 letters today.