Hey Friend, I am writing this letter to you to tell you that I fear we are losing touch.

It is rare these days to give and/or receive a hand-written letters, such as this one, partially due to the current wave of technology and our nation’s recent laissez-faire attitude the public has adopted toward most forms of interpersonal communication.

Nowadays, it is just easier to send a quick e-mail or instant message rather than taking the time and energy to either handwrite a letter or pick up a phone. But an e-mail can’t match the care and effort it takes to share a letter.

With a letter someone can’t just “carbon copy” the same message to another person. So, each letter tells a whole new story and could have a whole new meaning for each person.

I am not saying to boycott e-mail. It is very useful when getting something resolved within a short period of time. But, for those sending a note to someone telling them how great their spring break or summer vacation was, why shouldn’t they send a letter or even a postcard from where they visited? Those who don’t like the postcards from the hotel gift shop could even make their own with a picture they took at the beach or a cool landmark.

It’s not even common place to pass notes in class anymore. I know we are in class to become educated, but, if a fellow student has a witty retort to add to the lecture, I want to hear it. I was in class Tuesday night when I received a text message from a girl maybe eight feet from me. I looked down at my phone then took a gander to my left with a puzzled look on my face. In a situation like this, it is easier and, for slow typists like myself, faster to just write the three-word message on a piece of scratch paper and hand it to the recipient.

Notes in class are nice, but it is hard to beat getting a letter in the mail. The feeling gets even better when it’s not from your mother, but instead from a friend you haven’t talked to in a long time.

It is sad that I look forward to my birthday every year just so I can receive a card. In fact, I am pretty sure that if my grandparents could figure out a way to attach a $50 check to a happy birthday e-card with a little baseball player on it, I would never see another card in the mail.

E-cards are things that tend to get on my nerves a little bit. It is basically a way of saying that you don’t care enough about someone to pick up a $2 card at any gas station and add your own personal message, but instead you care enough about someone to sort through free cards online and type in his e-mail address. Plus, you get to help put Hallmark out of business. At least e-cards allow people to add a personal message to go with the dancing monkeys that brighten peoples’ days.

Well friend, I just wanted to catch up and tell you what was on my mind. I hope to receive a letter from you soon telling me how you are doing and maybe give you a chance to rant.

Your pal,

Billy

Photo editor Billy Wessels is a junior news-editorial journalism major from Waxahachie.