How times have changed! And none more than in the way we communicate with each other. Believe me, I enjoy being able to speak to any of my family or friends through the telephone or Skype or email. It’s pretty neat to hear what each one is doing and keep up with their comings and goings but, boy! Sometimes I miss actual letters I can hold in my hands. It’s rare for me to get a personal letter in the mailbox in front of my house and a few years ago, it was the highlight of my day.
In looking through one of my boxes of memorabilia, I came across an interesting letter from a distant relative in Chico, California. She wrote it in 1948 and the stamp on the envelope cost her three cents. She wrote about daily happenings, the relatives who were living nearby. She sent it to another family member in Georgia. One of the things she mentioned was her chickens. Right there in the town of Chico, she kept chickens who, she said, ate her table scraps.
Among my pictures are some that are probably more than a hundred years old. These letters and pictures are tangible parts of history and I love being able to pick them up and hold them in my hands. Nowadays, most of my pictures are digital and reside somewhere in my computer. I can print them off, true, if I feel the desire to hold them but I don’t usually do that. So many things are “virtual”. They exist yet they don’t. (By the way, what happened to that word, virtual? Long years ago, I thought it lent emphasis to a statement; as in, “She ate virtually all of the pie.” I guess that was another of my wrong-headed ideas.)
The faces of people who lived long ago, their handwriting on yellowing papers are bits of history. They are records of how people lived, what they thought, where they went, if they felt well, if the crops were good or they were planning a trip. They spoke of yearning to see home folks and asked that their loved ones keep in touch. They even mentioned having a flock of chickens within the city limits of Chico, California.
It would be nice if we kept alive some of these old-fashioned means of communication. Why can’t we keep writing letters? Are we too busy? But, I thought labor-saving devices were supposed to free us up to have more time. Hasn’t that happened? I’m all for writing letters, cards, keeping journals, in cursive handwriting on paper that I can see, feel, hear, and even smell. Sure, times are changing and we have to change too, to a certain extent. But, I miss the warmth of letters on paper. I think it would be nice to take along some old practices as we surge forward into more and more time-saving ways to communicate. After all, what would we do if the computer crashed?
I don’t think your ideas about “virtual” were wrong-headed! And that’s not the only word that has been changed to mean virtually the opposite of what it used to be (pun intended!).
I loved your comment, Judy. Thanks! And I loved your pun!