Achieving a richer culture

I have to admit that I was disappointed by the comments on the thank you post. Perhaps I was naïve to expect that everyone would agree with me—the letter-writing proponents don’t hang around here very often, after all. But it’s a good chance to open up discussion, and I do love discussion. (By the way, if you haven’t noticed you can reply to others’ comments in the comments section, and Becky and I will be doing the same in order to have more of a back-and-forth conversation with you all. )

Becky argued that, because we have all these new methods of communication (text messages, e-mails, Facebook), people don’t write and mail cards and notes. It’s too easy to send an e-mail or Facebook message. True. However, the next step after letting ourselves become too lazy to mail a card is to become too lazy to write an e-mail. Once everything became instant, it seems like people began to hold communication in less importance and stopped trying to communicate with others on a deeper level. Collectively we began to believe that because you check your Facebook and read everyone’s status messages every day means you know what’s going on in your friends’ lives. Except, without actually talking to those friends, you don’t know at all what’s going on. When we adopted “easier” (perhaps it’s more specific to say “instant”) methods of communication, we took it to mean that we didn’t need to communicate as we had been. We’re friends on Facebook, so why do I need to send her a message in addition to that?

For me, that’s a problem. I don’t enunciate my thoughts nearly as well in conversation as in writing, and I don’t think many people like to talk about what’s really important to them. Writing it out is one thing, but actually saying it aloud is another, and I really appreciate getting to know what’s important to my friends. Things come up in letters and long e-mails that you wouldn’t necessarily throw in a conversation. But with the lack of people taking advantage of these mediums of conversation, we lose a deeper connection to each other, a deeper understanding of each other, something I don’t want to lose.

I also worry that this lack of meaningful communication with others has led many people to stop caring about the other people in the world. If all we ever talk about is that we’re doing laundry, or chillin’, eating a burrito, why should anyone care about what we have to say? From 140 characters on Twitter to communicating via status message on Facebook, I’ve started to believe that this method of shortened communication has desensitized people to the needs of others. If you’re not forced to elaborate on your thoughts, it reinforces our natural laziness to the point that we really don’t care about others. We should instead be vigilant to how we treat people so that we really do care about getting to know them and accept others as they are, and then they will accept and care for us too.

Thoughts? Comments? Discussion? We’re all ears eyes!

*Title “inspired” by this quotation

The Art of the Thank You

Hello all! Have you missed me? I have to admit, the more and more I reacquaint myself with the Internet world, the more and more I realize how much I’ve missed all of YOU. I’ve always said that the reason blogging is such a great outlet is because of the connections you make with other people. So, here I am, once again trying hard to establish a habit of writing.

Speaking of writing, when was the last time you thought about writing thank-you cards? Was it that time, just after Christmas, where you threw a fit when your mother reminded you for the umpteenth time that you have to write thank-you cards for all the presents you got, but you didn’t like the presents you got so you didn’t want to thank whoever gave you them? Or was it when you last applied for a job, and sent along a note thanking the interviewer for giving you a chance, as many people recommend you do? Neither? Both?

To be sure, writing thank-you cards has possibly become more of a lost art than letter-writing, as I have yet to come across a “thank-you cards” blog, but I have come across multitudes of letter-writing ones. Letter-writing is re-surging in the public interest, but thank-you cards remain something only talked about when Emily Post is brought up.

To which I say: No more! Let’s talk about writing thank-you letters. Hey, let’s talk about telling people thank-you, from your heart! What I find wanting in the age of mass communication is not a lack of communication, but a lack of honest communication. It seems to me that I only talk about important things in my classes, and then I talk about them intellectually rather than passionately. I want to talk passionately more often, with more people. I want to have a Meeting of the Minds about how I feel about stewarding the Earth over a cup of hot chocolate at a local café. I want to talk about art and creativity, and how they make you feel more alive. I want to talk about what’s in your heart.

And I want to make absolutely sure those people that do kind things for me know how much I appreciate it.

Which is why I keep a variety of blank note-cards on hand: whenever I receive a gift, or experience someone’s kindness, I like to make sure I have my cards on-hand so that I can write while I’m still feeling the initial awe and gratitude. I find that I don’t want to write a thank-you note if I have to lay out money for a new card each time, and if I have cards already I’m still so excited about the receipt of a gift that I really, really want to just write it out. Then it’s done already, without fuss and with real excitement.

Part of me wonders if my partiality to thank-you cards comes from my time spent in Vienna, a city where the people are readily characterized as “very well-mannered”. While my professors certainly acted with a degree of manners to which I am not at all used to (as a rude American), there was one event in which a couple of strangers did the kindest things for me, simply because they were asked to. I couldn’t fathom their generosity. I wanted so badly to make sure they knew how much I appreciated it, and I bought a thank-you card right away and sent it off. I’m still not sure if it was received, but I hope they know that they contributed greatly to my good impression of a certain landmark and architect in Vienna.

Because of the Viennese rubbing off on me, and my own desire to make people feel appreciated, blank cards for thank-you notes are an important tool in my arsenal of stationery. They may not be used extremely often, but they are there for the times when I realize I need them, and I hope I have convinced you as well of their utility.

Remember to enter Becky’s giveaway! Enough entries and I might host one of my own.

Powered by Wordpress!

Home | About | Becky | Stephanie | Archives