Letter writers use pen, paper to say it best
By KELLY W. BROWN
Most agree it is more satisfying reaching into a mailbox and finding a hand-written letter rather than just bills and junk mail. However, the age-old art of letter writing is dying.
In a 2006 survey, the U.S. Postal Service reports the average American household received one piece of personal correspondence a week. The trend has been in a steady decline since 1987, when the average home got two or three letters a week, the survey said.
But in Hattiesburg, letter-writing is alive and well.
"I think e-mail is fine ... but I just think that when you 'handwrite' a letter, it's so much more personal," said Anne Love, 67, of Hattiesburg. She said she began writing letters when she could barely write - her mother would write thank-you notes, and Love would copy them. Today, she said, she still writes at least one letter per day.
"I feel like I can say things more personally in a letter than I would on e-mail," she said. And, she pointed out, when you take the time to write and send a letter, people know how much you care for them.
"Acknowledging people is almost a lost art," she said, and when she writes to them, "It's almost like I have a mini-visit with them. I'm thinking of them when I address each card."
When one of her best friends was in the hospital with cancer, Love said she wrote her a note every day. She still has the scrapbook with the correspondence to her late friend. She also keeps in touch with childhood friends in the Delta, women from her church and anyone, she said, who needs encouragement.
"If you think someone's having a really hard time, or if something is going on where you would maybe feel uncomfortable saying something, it's never the wrong thing to write a note," she said.
Marcia Gatewood, 73, is a recipient of Love's letters and an avid letter writer. She started as a Memphis State University student in the early 1950s. She writes around three per week, sending notes of encouragement.
"I think you can just put your thoughts on a piece of paper, what's really on your mind and what you're really thinking about," she said. "I enjoy getting notes, so I figure people enjoy getting them, too."
What e-mail has in speed, she said, it lacks in style.
"I hope that note writing and letter writing are not dying arts. It is easy to sit down on the computer and write something quick, but to me it is not as personal," she said. "When you're writing a note, you're sharing your personality, and you don't do a lot of that with a computer."
Letter writing has a place in the American conscious, particularly for couples who were apart during wars and other separations. But even younger generations have relied on letters to bridge the gap.
Diane Eaves, etiquette consultant, said she exchanged letters with her husband, Thomas Eaves, while he was stationed in Taiwan during Vietnam War. She still is a "letter-writer."
"I love to write letters, I do, and I love to get letters," she said. "I really do think that it's just like a gift when you send a letter to somebody, because most of the time what do we get in the mail? Bills. It's fun to get a letter that you can read and re-read."
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