Why The Art of Letter Writing Should Never Go Out of Fashion
Letters received from my father are amongst my most treasured possessions
I was recently listening to a podcast where the host said, when she was at school she knew the handwriting of all her friends and probably everyone in her class. Today other than her very closest friends and immediate family, she would not recognise anyone’s else’s writing. She was making a point about how little hand written communication takes place these days.
This point was reinforced for me when I heard colleagues discuss how poor their handwriting had become through lack of use.
Both comments illustrate how infrequently many of us actually pick up a pen and write more than a quick scribbled list on a scrap of paper.
I have just written a letter to a friend whose mum died recently. She is a friend I correspond frequently with electronically, but we also regularly send postcards to each other, or thank you letters after Christmas and Birthdays. Our friendship goes back a long way as does our correspondence.
I have another friend I correspond with almost solely via letter. We previously worked together but don’t really see each other anymore. When a letter from her drops onto my doormat, I instantly recognise the characteristic long strokes of her tightly packed handwriting, on the brown envelopes she favours.
Her letters are an extension of her. They are filled with updates on her life but also with recommendations of art or radio programmes she thinks I would enjoy. Those letters are precious and I enjoy them. She often includes clippings from something she has read which she wants to share. This sounds terribly old fashioned, but opening her letters and sitting down to read them are a much more enjoyable and ritualistic process than opening an email.
When I write back to her this is another ritual. I make a cup of tea, I carefully chose some writing paper, and I write with my fountain pen. I take time to think about what I am going to share with her, and I enjoy the process of composing sentences and putting my thoughts into words.
I went to University in the early nineties. Apart from a weekly telephone call via the shared landline phone in the halls of residence, letter writing was the way I made contact with my family. Receiving a letter was always exciting, and in those days as students, we went to our pigeon holes daily in search of handwritten correspondence.
I wrote weekly to my parents and received a weekly letter (written by my mum) from them too. My husband’s late grandmother also wrote to me regularly and faithfully throughout my time away.
I have boxes full of cards and letters my then boyfriend, now husband sent me over a period of around 7–8 years when we were studying and working in different parts of the country. We wrote to each other at least weekly on various shades of specially chosen coloured paper.
My Dad died many years ago, and amongst my most treasured possessions are a couple of letters he wrote to me when I was away at University and one he sent to me just after my wedding expressing his joy and pride he had felt on my wedding day.
He was not a great letter writer, in fact I don’t think he ever really signed his own name on birthday cards, which perhaps makes those letters particularly special. It is his lopsided handwriting, and his scruffily penned kisses I still recognise. It is a part of him I still have. I’m not sure a saved email on my computer would be quite the same.
Writing by hand involves a different thought process to writing on a computer. It is slower so has to be more measured and considered. When the delete key is not an option, we take more time reflecting on what we really want to say. When we are doing this we are more likely to get it right.
You may also enjoy this Article
