A short text or email can only say so much and last so long… Write a letter instead; it is much more easily stowed away in drawers and stolen out again for second, third, and fourth readings. I’ve kept every single one I’ve ever received and have taken great care in the writing of every one I’ve sent… There’s just something more inexplicably personal to the writing of such messages and the reading of another’s handwriting than can ever be found in the uniform text of an email or instant message. Never give it up, I say. And never I shall.
On another note, did you know that the poet John Keats once said that if he glimpsed a note with his lover’s handwriting - the very same one whom he had only recently been forced to part from due to a debilitating illness on his part and the constraints of that particular era’s propriety on hers - that he would dissolve completely into despair for love and want of her at the very sight? It probably is just the uncompromisingly romantic side of me, but I find this little fact not only ridiculously heart wrenching, but also something that truly speaks to the monumental level of intimacy that the handwritten note can carry as opposed to our more modern modes of communication.
Would John Keats have felt nearly as moved after scanning a message sent from his fair lady’s cell or gmail account? I think not.
[rant/FINIS]
Apologies as they are due,
Torey
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