Have you written a letter to anyone this April? In the age of social media - twitter, face book and blogging, the manuscript, pen writing method is long forgotten. I recently decided to write a letter out of gratitude to express my thoughts to a fellow doctor who has been with me in moral support and a great cheerleader in life. She is such a nurturing person, that the only thing I find I can provide her in return is my words of thoughts to tell her how much I appreciate and love her and the kindness and compassionate towards helping me. So I set and wrote in between working around long to-do lists to settle some chaotic transition in my life and flick typing on my work laptop at radar speed to record my churn of thoughts before they dissipated in the midst of all clutter.
With Amazon kindle and a conglomerate of smart phones and gadgets that emerged in this new technological era, promoting a wealth of convenience for eBooks and e-articles and online learning and featherweight libraries, books too are considered traditionally outdated. Emails to substitute letters and postcards, photo-slides for photo albums. Everything has virtualized electronically
I still love the hardcover feel and flipping a page in between my fingers. And walking to the library for some good old research amidst shelves of books is still a gratifying experience. There is a surreal feeling of being surrounded by books that gadgets simply cannot substitute, not withstanding gadgets that need to be re-charged and maintained all the time. I like to peer into the shelves and squeal and smile to myself at a book cover in light of a topic that I have found and and I like the feeling of carrying pile of books back in my recycled bag, signifying some satisfaction not derived from any iphone or ipad. Perhaps, the feeling resonate so strongly because I use to read plenty during childhood. I will haul thirteen books all together on each trip to the library and try to maximize lending in all the library cards that I can utilize in my family. I love Hardy boys and Enid blyton and all classical Andersen fairy tales. Nothing beats further than holding my favorite hardcover books and flipping through the carbon paper pages and snuggling into a corner for a sweet indulgence of story reading. Stories and moments that come to life as you immense in the each letter or book.
While the media is promoting and advocating all the sophiscated, technology benefits to consumers on replacing books and writing electronically, I, personally will like to advocate still, the nostalgia of letter writing and books. It’s a wonderful ritual that will remind you of good moments of spending your time in the real and not virtual world. And it is a wonderful ritual to hold fast that letter and book of yours for a good ride down the memory lane and share them with someone else.
Do you agreed?
"Be happy that your names are written in heaven." - In the Book of Life
