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January 6, 2008
Postage and paper have a place in my heart
I sent and received Christmas cards this year, not unlike any other year. Yet it was unlike any other, I realized, since I wasn't actually in school (which makes sending and receiving much easier and cost effective since it's done without postage).
I'm proud of my fellow recent grads because despite e-cards, instant messenger, Facebook and its GIF gifts, txt messages, and free evenings and weekends I still got physical Christmas greetings in the form of delightful cards and letters from a number of friends. These friends make me happy that our generation is not the one that has forgotten the personal feeling imbedded in a piece of mail.
Don't get me wrong, I use all those other ways of keeping in touch--most of them I use everyday. But as I grow to rely on (and realize that I'm relying upon) Facebook to tell me what people are up to lately, instant messenger to broadcast the typed form of an answering machine so I can leave a "hello," and my cell phone to interrupt my reading with a pleasant buzz signifying I am wanted or needed, I appreciate the physical presence of a friendly gesture more than I did before... It's more hug than handshake, is what I'm getting at, I suppose. All I can hope is that people thought the same thing when they received the cards that I sent this year. It's fun to send them out knowing that a pleasant piece of mail frequently brings a smile along with it.
It's funny, though. As I type this it's struck me that I've somehow reverted to an almost materialistic stance in an age when we're trying our darndest to keep commercialism and materialism from overrunning the feelings and meanings that belong to and are closest to Christmas. Tradition, though, I suppose has its place regardless of its physicality, and words will always have their clashing physical (spoken/written) and metaphysical (emotional/mental) capacities... Just keeping the greeting card business going, I guess. You're welcome, Hallmark. :)
Posted by KarissaKilgore at January 6, 2008 11:38 PM
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