Jude AgbayaniWhen was the last time you received a letter in the mail? I’m not referring to your usual credit card bill or cellphone bill but a real letter from a dear friend or a relative? Maybe none in the past years. How about you writing a letter and going out of your way to send it via snail mail?
I was a collector of stationery sets as a young girl in the 80’s. I love writing and sending letters to my friends. I had a best friend in sixth grade whom I consistently exchanged letters for years. There were no emails, instant messages or social media back then. People always communicated by calling on the telephone or sending friendly letters, love letters, birthday cards, Christmas cards through postal mail (snail mail). My mother and I were frequent visitors of our local post office because we regularly send letters to our friends and relatives abroad. The most exciting part of mailing the letters for me was dropping the envelope in that huge mail box, knowing that my friend would receive my message in a few days!
Times change and technology surpassed this system. Who would have thought that postage stamps would be replaced by a simple Send button on the computer. It’s sad to know but this is our reality. I don’t know if kids these days even know how to send a letter without the computer but sending doing it the old-fashioned way.
My husband and I thought of letting the kids have another field trip, this time at our local post office. First, we asked them to write three sets of letters. One was for their Grandpa who lives in San Jose, California. Second, was for my mother who also lives in California and the last was for my youngest brother who is celebrating his birthday this month. We told all of them (father-in-law, mom and brother) that the kids would be sending them a letter and hoping that they would find the time to respond to them too via postal mail too.
Everyone was excited to see the Post Office. There were only a few people who sent letters that afternoon including the kids and all of them were senior citizens.
One cannot compete with the convenience and automation. But I really hope that the Philippine Postal System would continue to create ways to attract people especially the younger generation to utilize the old way of sending letters. As parents, let’s help educate our children about this dying practice. Go visit your local post office soon! 🙂
