The second Sunday of January marks the start of Universal Letter Writing Week, a week that “encourages us to take up pen and paper and write to someone.” People have been lamenting the decline and fall of the Gentle Art of Letters since long before the arrival of email. But then, some people will lament anything, true or not. Stop lamenting, stop waiting for other to people to write to you, and start writing!
Etiquetteer is not going to tell you that electronic communication is bad, wrong, or Not Perfectly Proper. It’s just provided even more ways for us to ignore each other. No means of communication can be quick and easy if both parties don’t use it quickly and easily. But because electronic communication is more convenient for the large majority, good old-fashioned pen-and-paper letter writing has transformed from basic and essential to Special and Meaningful. We seem to save it for occasions like condolences, weddings, and, increasingly, letters of thanks after job interviews.
We make the ordinary extraordinary with a little more attention. Now that means pen and ink instead of texts and email. Think of the excitement of the Five Little Peppers when their mother brought out her stationery for them to write their first letter. “‘There, now I'm going to give you this,’ and she took out a small sheet of paper slightly yellowed by age; but being gilt-edged, it looked very magnificent to the five pairs of eyes directed to it.” Might we approach our desk drawers with the same sort of wonder now?
“But I don’t know what to say!” you will say. Well . . . think of a person you want to write and why they are important to you. Write that. Remember happy memories with that person and write that. Share what you are doing with your time. If you believe your daily life too dull to share, Etiquetteer would suggest a) making a few changes to your schedule, and b) including in your letter “Things would be so much more exciting if you were here!”
“But I have terrible handwriting!” you will say. Well . . . so does Etiquetteer. And anyway, when your recipient gets your letter, it may prompt them to call and say “I knew this letter had to be from you because I can’t read a word of it. But it was so lovely to hear from you that I had to call and find out what you said!” Hey presto, communication has been reestablished! Etiquetteer calls that a victory.
“But I just got done with all my Christmas cards!” you will say, exhausted. Well . . . perhaps you didn’t hear from someone you usually do during the holidays? Write them to share your affection and concern. Besides, Etiquetteer isn’t suggesting you write to your entire card list, only seven special people — friends, relatives, neighbors, colleagues — one day for Universal Letter Writing Week. Or write a letter every other day. Or even just one for the week! You will be contributing not only to your relationship with the recipient, but also to a world of Perfect Propriety.
Etiquetteer looks forward to hearing from you (in any format) with your progress, and especially your queries, on How to Write a Perfectly Proper Letter.