E-mail Versus L-mail
By: Hannah rs Joseph
Topics: Opinion e-mail versus l-mail
Posted by BostonGal Fri Feb 20, 2009 09:05:40 PST
Viewed 622 times
0 responses 2 comments
Call me old fashioned, I don't care. I know the world of personal communication has changed but I'd rather get a good old L-mail (letter) in my 'real' mailbox than a short, usually impersonal E-mail in my computer mailbox.
Sorry, electronic messages are simply not the same as letters.
And then there is the delete key.
Some do not check their messages often and it builds up to what becomes an impossible reading marathon that never gets read beyond the 'from' line.
One friend told me he had over 100 emails in his box from junk mail and other bothersome-looking sources and simply hit the delete key.
My message was on there too. How many times I have been sent to the electronic graveyard, only heaven knows.
Ah, but when a good friend's L-mail is nestled in your mailbox anxiously awaiting discovery there is no executioner who pushes the delete button to send your words and thoughts into oblivion, you have been reprieved!
If one is too young to have experienced the real thing and has grown up in this electronic age of text- messaging and e-mail then they will never know.
Technology is not always good you know, some progress is really regress.
But if you're old enough to remember the real thing, what it was like to get a letter from someone you love, especially from that certain guy or gal, then you know what I'm talking about.
Sure, it's nice to be remembered at all. Nice that someone took a couple of minutes to send a personal message (as personal as possible via the Internet) and this should definitely exclude forwards and mass mailings.
Electronic communication can never take the place of a hand-written, carefully folded letter, gently tucked into an envelope and sealed and stamped with love.
I still have those special ones saved in my box of souvenirs, yellowed with age but read over and over through the years bringing back the sweetest of memories.
On the back of those envelopes are the love and kisses symbols and S.W.L. (sealed with love) and some said, '2sweet2B4got10'. Sure, silly little messages for all the world to see and some even sillier ones such as S.W.S. (sealed with spit) or 'open before reading'. I did my share. But I just miss them all.
You can call it snail-mail but I don't care, some things are just worth waiting for.
If E must be, then let it stand out from the others. Keep it nice, keep it friendly and let the E stand for Encouraging, Enlightening and Endearing.
| Send to a Friend | Report a Violation |
Sat Feb 21, 2009 04:25:17 PST
I definitely agree with you. Email can never replace snail mail. What's missing? Heart, emotion, meaning, inflection, intent, sincerity-which may be intended but isn't always reflected.
Mon Feb 23, 2009 13:30:19 PST
Can't call you old fashioned, you're way way too young,
'Sides, if I call YOU that, I'll bite my own tongue.
For I can remember almost as much,
To give all the memories a personal touch.
Snail mail was lovely, those notes in the box,
That someone would send to this batty old fox,
Would make my heart happy, that someone believed,
That I should get love from a box I retrieved.
We got so excited when someone would say,
Somebody wrote you a letter today!
So I guess that the email can stay in net space,
But the old fashioned letter they cannot replace.