Next month, I will celebrate my 16th birthday: an exciting, huge, scary milestone. During our annual big family get-together, we will enjoy Christmas in August, because we never see each another at Christmas (strange, I know). These two events will result in a number of presents, all of which will be gratefully received by me. In the 21st century, the main way of thanking someone for presents seems to be saying ‘’thank you’’ out loud or writing an email/text message of appreciation. Well, my method of showing appreciation is radical in the age of digital technology at your fingertips.
I write thank you letters. Though this activity seemed inevitably consigned to history at the end of the 20th century, I believe letters of thanks, not texts, are vital to show how grateful someone is for their presents. Yes, saying thank you is kind, but it is not enough. For many, saying thank you is an innate remark that doesn’t require any time, effort or thought. It’s even worse when, at an older age, people still have to be prompted to say thanks. Letters are a polite, decent way of showing bearers of gifts how much their present means to you. Writing your thanks allows you to go into detail, making it more likely for a present to be sent the following year. One of the best reasons to write a thank you letter is because of the elderly. Those mature people who always send £20 in your card, who you last met at your mum’s second cousin’s wedding deserve a card more than anyone. Following from my previous post regarding libraries, isolation is prominent in older people. Therefore, every letter they get will show the importance the elderly have in other people’s lives, making them feel needed and showing they are not alone. Also, why should older people have to get to grips with technology? While I’m pleased with many of the advancements made over the years, I do feel the decline of letter writing in exchange for emails is a shame, as it negatively impacts the mature generation. As of 2016, over 160,000 people are directly employed by Royal Mail. This shows the key, necessary role that postal workers play up and down the country, ensuring people get vital bills, postcards from abroad and, though in decline, letters from family. The uncontrollable rise of artificial intelligence means that jobs up and down the country have been lost. For example, in supermarkets, self-service machines are alongside human beings. The demand for food hasn’t gone down, but machines are seen as more effective (believe me, they’re not). Imagine if hundreds – even thousands – of jobs were lost in Royal Mail: not because of artificial intelligence, but simply a lack of demand. That would be so sad and so unnecessary. Technology obsessives often use the same argument against letter writing. They believe letter writing, and using paper in general, is environmentally damaging, because of the trees that have to be cut down. Interestingly, the rate of deforestation has increased, as technology advances. The annual rate of deforestation in the Amazon region dramatically increased from 1991 to 2003, with the rates of deforestation rising in 2008, 2013 and 2015. Raising the vital issue of deforestation is correct, but that is no reason to not write letters. Instead, afforestation, or quotas on the amount of forest that can be cut down should be enforced by government. The obsessives are happy to use electricity to power their endless gaming, which, until we have fully renewable energy, is unsustainable. I don’t hear them raising solutions to that problem. Do you? Letter writing is an utterly unique process. Every letter, however small the difference, will be unique. Every email will look the same: same font, same layout, and same design (unless you’ve mastered mysterious HTML). With physical cards, the design can be as bold and extravagant as you make it. They are individualised for the sender, with appropriate paper, design and thought going into each one. Actually writing out the thanks instead of quickly typing it reinstalls how brilliant the present was (or at least how grateful you are). A letter shows that the present receiver is willing to go to the same efforts as the present giver to please each other. Shouldn’t that be everyone’s ambition? I love writing. Maybe that’s the reason why I am so fond of writing letters to people; any excuse and I’ll get a pen. There is nothing like good manners. Showing how grateful you are in a unique way, making someone feel special and keeping someone else in a job. It’s a positive all round. I can’t wait for my birthday and our family Christmas in August. Celebrating, opening presents, eating, having a fun time. All part of the perfect summer break. Only problem: one of my presents will be from Secret Santa.
2 Comments
jane
31/8/2017 21:48:41
As a postie and a recipient of your polite thankyou letters, i loved this post! : )
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Noah (Tea Talks)
3/9/2017 16:41:37
Thank you Jane for this comment and for reading; I intend to write many more thank you letters in the future!
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