Wait a minute, Mr. Postman!

My niece is having a trouble on how to write a good letter telling about her daily life. She is so used to text or emailing because all her friends do the same. And she finds it easier to express her feeling with the cute emoticons (like hysterical laughter, madness, bored, etc...)...which brings me to the question, when was the last time you actually received a handwritten letter in the mail? I think the tradition of writing letters have been much replaced by the internet, IM services such as Yahoo messenger or MSN, text messaging, a lot of the time people just choose not to write by hand anymore.

When I lived in dormitory school, getting the mail was something I looked forward to. I remember I have had an Indonesian pen pal in Geneva, Switzerland who happened to be my teacher's best friend. I especially love getting postcards. It’s always a nice little surprise to get a card with a picture of snows, places you only saw in the movies or magazines, and it really cheered my day to think that my friend took the time to sit down and spent the time to write to me. I do so enjoy receiving those handwritten letters in the mailbox (and I enjoy writing them too). I usually set aside an hour over the weekend and write them all at one time. It makes me so happy to have a stack of letters/cards to drop in the mail the next day!

Now the computers has put a big end to it. In today's electronic age, you can write electronic mail whenever you want, send it now, and you will get the reply within ten minutes. Like fast food and instant coffee, electronic letters are fast and instant. I admit I am as guilty in this regard. I am more inclined to emails or text messages. Because it’s so easy, and you don’t have to deal with the hassles at the post office in order to acquire stamps, etc.

So, do you still put pen to paper and send letters?