A Case for writing letters

’How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to sit at your desk and pick up a pen, to put your thoughts into words like this is truly marvellous.’

– Haruki Murakami

 

With the advent of the internet and the rise of social networking sites, the practice of writing letters is quickly becoming a lost art. However, it has existed for thousands of years, from the time of Ancient India, Ancient Egypt, and Sumer, through Rome, Greece, and China. Letters make up several of the books of the Bible and have been an invaluable source for historians.

Many great artists and other important figures expressed their deepest, most guarded, and sometimes most beautiful emotions in letters to friends and loved ones, providing another, more intimate take on their own work and related historical events.

So, while the ability to communicate with someone online, instantaneously from across the globe, is indeed miraculous,  there is an importance and intimacy that is unique to the letter writing process. Taking the time to sit in front of a blank page with nothing but a pen can often force you to express sentiments you wouldn’t otherwise do. A letter is rarely a sentence or a paragraph long; it is often pages of increasing truth that you may not otherwise divulge, it is beyond small-talk and invoking potentially latent and hitherto unknown feelings.

At Seymour we believe that it is important to take time out for reflection, and writing letters can be a perfect means of doing so. Perhaps two friends who replace keyboard with pen will realise a new dimension to their friendship, more intimate and less guarded; and perhaps you’ll uncover a few truths about yourself as well.

 

W.K. 2014