Always more than just a letter

Miranda Babbitt
Assistant LifeStyle Editor

The art of letter writing is one that I have rarely tried to perfect, despite the instinctive happy dance that reverberates through my body once I grasp the envelope addressed to me. Perhaps this reaction seems excessive, yet every letter that has waited for me in my mailbox has been greeted with near hysteria. But it’s on a more somber note that I must admit this hysteria is mostly a result of the rarity of receiving one at all.

This honesty should grant me no mercy, as I still haven’t managed to deliver the happiness of receiving a letter to someone else. In other words, I don’t really send letters at all. And for the most part, my excuse in avoiding such a beautiful habit is one of undeniable laziness. Sending a GIF of a clip from Parks & Recreation or just a chubby kitty with an oh-so-powerful message to a far off friend is so much more tempting when I’ve just collapsed onto my bed and my procrastination coma is beginning to set in.

This procrastination coma, or shall I say the “suffocating lazy blanket” to avoid any morbidity, is a pressing issue. In fact, it’s nearly an epidemic for those of our age. We see the screen in front of us, and it’s lit up with shortcuts intended to make our life easier. The convenience of technology is inevitably tempting for a large majority of everyday activities – whether that’s looking up a last nagging homework answer, or the hours of Starbucks to make sure you can walk home with a red holiday cup, but the harrowing part of this convenience is that we’ve thrown our relationships into the mix.

We’re offered endless ways to merely scratch the surface of reaching any depth in a relationship. The ease of “liking” a photo or shooting a quick one-word message to a friend from home is the basis of most relationships sustained through Facebook. Social media outlets can make it seem as though maintaining relationships is easy, but this isn’t the case for any that we value. When someone is valued, they deserve effort, and this is not achieved by lumping them together with checking the hours of Starbucks.

An emoji in replacement of a string of explanatory sentences doesn’t help us foster the connections we have with those we value. It cheapens it. It seems to me that traditional communication, be it a phone call, a face-to-face conversation, or even letters are undervalued for the sake of convenience. And yet, I know I’m not alone when I say that effort does not go unnoticed. It’s a neon indication in an otherwise grey realm of technological methods.

A letter, for example, can succinctly demonstrate this effort. For the collection I have received over the past few years, they have instantly communicated to me so much more than the words enclosed inside. They carry a sentimental value that is no longer a part of how we communicate.

And letters have no specified audience either. They don’t just need to be for your family at home, or a friend from high school, or anyone who is literally far enough away from you that a letter would be expected. They can be the cutest pick-me-up for someone who has just had a rough week and the most intimate way to enclose some news about your life to a friend you just don’t get to see enough.

The happy dance that comes with a letter isn’t solely reserved for the recipient either. There is something so inherently satisfying with sending a letter nowadays, perhaps because it is as rare as I made it out to be in my own life. Going out to the store, buying some cheerful envelopes, a vintage postage stamp, and stickers to be sprinkled throughout the message has such a novel appeal to it. We can see the products of our efforts, package them away, and send them across the city, or world, and know that this will be held in the excited hands of someone we love.

Come the holidays, when your cheapest generic cialis own group of friends scatters in every direction as they make their way home, why not experiment with a letter or two. Even if it’s a funny story about the ugly Christmas sweater waiting for you on your bed, the message behind the cringe-inducing tale won’t be forgotten.