The Lost Art of the Letter

I admit it, one of my TV shows is Family Jewels with Gene Simmons. I am not a KISS fan, but I am a Gene fan. Once you get past the fire eating, demon of death he's actually a pretty nice guy. I digress.

I watched an episode the other day (it was on demand, so probably a rerun from I don't know when) that really made me think about what a toll cyberspace has taken on our lives. Sure it's great for instant news on Lindsey Lohan's drunken escapades, and we can find out what's going on halfway around the world with us in the click of a button, but what about our ability to communicate?

In the episode I'm referring to Shannon (G's wife err... long time girlfriend of 20+ years and mother of his children) buys a writing desk and finds a stack of love letters inside. She goes on a quest to find the woman they are written to and return them to her. She finds the lady in a retirement home and returns the letter. The lady isn't really excited about the letters, but she tells Shannon that her favorite picture was with these letters, or maybe in a hat box somewhere... Shannon sets off on a needle in the haystack hunt for the picture.

She finds the buyer of the hatbox, and low and behold - there's the picture hidden inside in a little compartment! She returns the picture to the lady amid many tears from everyone around - see playmates and rock stars can be compassionate! We find out why the lady wasn't excited over the letters - her son is there and explains he's a prop master on movie sets and he wrote the letters using his parents names, addresses and a few true details to make them seem authentic on set. The desk Shannon bought was in some movie @ one point, and then he kept it for his mom - forgetting the letters were in there (who knew such detail went into a set, I mean those letters were probably never actually shot on camera).

But the whole time you're watching this show you are thinking these are real letters between real people. There have been books released about love letters between John & Abigail Adams, Ronald & Nancy Reagan, and many other famous people who corresponded when they were apart. The point to my blog today is that these things don't exist as much now that the Internet is taken over.

A deep heartfelt 3 page love letter has been replaced (many times) with a quick email or text saying Luv U, TTYL, etc. It's becoming rare that we even receive hand written letters or anything other than a signature inside a card at birthdays and holidays.

So, this is my long rant warning everyone that this year I'm going to be one of THOSE PEOPLE. You know, the ones where you roll your eyes because when you get their holiday card every detail of their lives are documented. Ha ha... well, maybe I won't document everything, but I do think I'll include a letter to most people giving them the scoop on what they missed out on this year. My living tribute to the lost art of the letter.