As the years go by and our pace of life increases by the minute, technology bowls us over and it seems that we are in a desperate hurry to get somewhere… although I’m not quite sure where it is that we’re headed to in such haste.
During these accelerated times that we are bringing upon ourselves, we have lost the gift of writing letters – letters that were once carefully and lovingly kept, and from which we are now able to learn about the lives and times of those who wrote them many years ago. Although it’s true that today we have digital and visual records that will possibly provide future generations with a very accurate description of our times, the knowledge we gain from this correspondence is definitely more personal and brings us closer to those who wrote them and lived those experiences.
I have always enjoyed writing letters – you could even say that this blog could be considered to be a letter addressed to whoever is reading it. I grew up without grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins near me, and as a little girl I used to write letters to my grandmother and my aunts. What could I have been telling them in those letters? What could a little girl have been writing about? I have no idea – I just remember happily sitting down to write them.
Since then, I have never stopped writing letters to so many friends that live far away. Fortunately, many of those with whom I carry on these long-distance conversations also like to sit down and write long emails – which is something else that is on its way to almost extinction… It takes longer to write complete words and sentences than to use the abbreviations used when texting nowadays. This has brought about the birth of a new “language” made up of words that have morphed into vowel-less, cryptic words and acronyms, almost incomprehensible to me and flourishing at the speed of light.
Quite different from the carefully chosen stationery and the pen that glided over it. Writing a letter was something intimate, paused, meditated; something for which you set aside some time, sat down – preferably with a hot cup of tea or coffee – taking your time to remember what you wanted to tell the other person, putting your ideas in order, finding the most fitting words… However, I do have to admit that the pleasure of sitting in front of my laptop, following the above ritual, is just as pleasurable. (And I also have to admit to being one of those weird beings who saves the sent and received emails in order to read them over again whenever I feel like it).
And, although the joy of receiving a letter, opening the envelope and touching the paper that had been held by the other person, studying the handwriting that in itself was able to transmit emotions, and smelling the faint scent that could have lingered was amazing, and that the anticipation with which we waited for the replies to our letters was great, it is still almost as exciting to hear the “ping” that announces the arrival of a new email into our inbox, and it is a real pleasure to take the time to sit down and enjoy the conversations that are sometimes years in the making. These are the letters of our modern times…
Nora's Blog... Sixty and Still Going Strong!! 