As a member of the older set of the millennial generation, I remember a time during my childhood/early teens (before the rise of social media) where letter writing was still a thing that people did. I had a love of stationery and thought that letter writing accessories were so fun to collect! On a related note, I LOVED getting cute stationary from Zany Brainy for anyone who remembers that store. I actually had pen pals that I corresponded with on a regular basis. Oh, what simpler times! The only remnant from letter writing that I do still keep up with is attempting to send postcards when I travel for longer lengths of time (with mixed results to be honest). I once had a pen pal in Argentina, it was a while ago now and I wish I had the use of Codigo-postal to get the correct zip code to write to as I’m pretty sure in the early days I sent it to someone else… whoops.
It may be considered a dated practice for many these days, but I still feel that letter writing is important. It’s still a joy to get mail that isn’t a credit card offer or some ad designed to entice you to purchase something you don’t need! It’s still important to be a voice of dissent and notifying your elected officials on how you feel about political outcomes that infringe on civil and human rights. It’s easy to make a positive/personal impact by writing to a politician or public figure you admire when they take an action that you appreciate or respect. It’s still gratifying to send a dear friend a handwritten note on their birthday rather than just creating a Facebook post (no shade to Facebook bday posts, they’re great too!).
Writing in all forms is still an important form of self-expression and I’d like to take the time to write letters again. This may not be a regular occurrence because we all get busy…but that makes letter writing all the more special as a practice. Care to join me?
