Once
upon a time this world communicated through letter writing.
Letters to lovers. Letters to soldiers overseas. Letters
to employers. Letters to whomever, whether it be friend,
foe or obsession. Not only did we write letters we would
use beautiful papers that were sometimes scented. We don't
write letters anymore, or at least not proper ones. I use
to write letters all the time. Long winded, creative, and
written in recognizable, nice penmanship. I would spend
hours thinking about what to write, writing drafts, writing
good copy, sealing in an envelope and mailing them out.
That feels like forever ago.
Since
email has become my main source of communication, I don't
write hand-written letters anymore. You would be lucky to
even find me writing a hand-written note, let alone letter.
My handwriting has also become so bad that I sometimes can't
even decipher my own scribbles! I can only write for a limited
amount of time because my hand cramps up. But that's not
the problem here, the problem is we have all forgotten how
to write proper letters. The kind that have opening salutations,
structured sentences, closing salutations and signatures...
it's sad isn't it? Guess what it doesn't have to be! You
can write proper letters when you send emails!!!
This
week I received at least 5 emails, from educated people
that were atrocious. ATROCIOUS!!! I had to read these letters
over and over again in order to figure out the message and
even then I am not sure that I got it. I felt like I was
stuck in a chat room nightmare!!! I am sure I am guilty
of bad email writing, as a matter of act I know I am. I
get lazy just like everyone else, but I pray you can still
figure out the message. What it all boils down to is pure
and simple laziness. We live in a world of keyboard shortcuts,
messenger phrases and emoticons. If adults are writing this
way I am frightened to see how a 15, 19 or 25 year writes.
I already know how a 13-year-old writes. Last year I had
to continually stop him from writing LIKE at the beginning
of each and every sentence he wrote!!! Do they not teach
proper grammar and language skills in school anymore???
I remember having to write the alphabet a million times,
till I was able to creating letters exactly the way my teacher
did!!!
I
am also not a huge fan on online messaging systems. Yes
I use it as they are a great way to kill time. They are
also a great way to have quick conversations and save tonnes
of money on long distance bills, but I hate the language
that has been created for it...using shortcut word like
brb, rotfl, ttyl or sending emoticons rather than truly
saying what you feel. Again I am guilty as charged! I do
it to, but am tired of it. Don't send me a heart when you
are trying to tell me you love me... just say you love me!!!
Or excuse yourself when you have to leave a conversation,
you do it when you are face to face with someone. Why can't
we use the same kind of etiquette when we are on line! It's
already bad enough we can do virtually everything online.
Cyberspace is taking away our personalities, ethics and
manners and email has made it easy for us to be lazy.
We
need to step back and relearn how to write proper letters
again and how to properly interact with those you are trying
to communicate with. I am tired of getting emails that I
can't read! Life if too short and I don't want to waste
it trying to figure out what you are trying to say to me!
Just say it, but in a proper sentence. PLEASE!
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