"It is cold tonight, but the thought of you so warm, that I sit by it as a fireside, and am never cold any more. I love to write to you --it gives my heart a holiday and sets the bells to ringing." Emily Dickinson
As I read this, Emily Dickinson's beautiful words touched my heart. Is it any wonder that her poetry lives more than a century beyond her death?
I love what computers allow us to do. For instance, this blog is made possible because of computers and software. Email allows me to keep in constant touch with faraway friends and family. But, and this is important, but ... I love the beauty of a handwritten letter as well. If our society abandons the art of letter writing, then we are truly on the path to destruction.
A few months ago, I learned (with dismay) that some schools are no longer teaching handwriting. How sad. How will our children ever write a letter to a grandparent, a birthday card, a thank you note, without learning to hand write? The answer is simple. They won't.
This I know for sure: handwritten letters are a thing of beauty and a mark of a cultured civilization.
I agree, and hope that we never "outgrow" writing by hand. That would be akin to "outgrowing" our imagination. Whenever that happens, something valuable is lost.
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