A Letter
2025-10-17
Yesterday I penned a letter to my best friend. And I do mean penned: after rummaging around in a box stashed in a closet, I tracked down some fine stationery I'd bought years ago and, pen in hand, sat down to write. Having been away from letter-writing for decades, I was reminded of a few long-forgotten essentials:
- Writing a letter by hand is a slow, contemplative activity. The fact that you need to think about what you're going to say before committing it to paper induces a great deal of thought and reflection.
- This kind of slow, contemplative writing makes you think with care about the person you're writing to, in two senses: you choose your words carefully so that you can demonstrate the caring thoughts and feelings you have toward this person who is dear to you.
- The bodily act of penning a letter leads to a subtle but perceptible embodiment of your thoughts and feelings, for instance in the words you underline or the width of your dashes. Indeed, a writer who is more visually creative than I am might include little doodles, sketch a flower or a cloud, and so on. (Thoreau did this kind of thing in his journal.)
- Writing letters is additive; although I talk on the phone with this friend every week or two and text with him nearly every day, writing is an extra mode of communication that does not take away from these more immediately interactive activities.
I foresee more letter writing in my future...
(Cross-posted at Beautiful Wisdom.)
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