The past two years I have failed to send out my regular Holiday Update Letter to friends and family. The reasons are irrelevant, but yesterday and today I decided to revive that tradition, and sent it out. If you did not get it then please understand that I hand-select the recipients from a list of about 850 names, and it is very easy to miss one or two. Please just send me a quick note and I will forward it to you.
I have received and am sure I will continue to receive replies from many of the people on my list, some of whom I might not have seen or spoken to this year, but are still important to me. I received some heart-warming replies and comments from some people that really touched me - colleagues and friends and family have written to express their thoughts and often their appreciation of my letter.
If we are going to be honest we have to admit that the era of hand-written letters is if not gone then certainly on the downswing. I am sure that Theresa was shocked to receive a post-card from me yesterday because e-mail is so much easier to write. Some people might feel it is too impersonal - it does not require the same commitment to write an individual letter by hand, seal it, stamp it, and walk it down to the post box... we can write a single letter and mail it to a thousand people simultaneously without getting dressed.
While I do not disagree that e-mail takes less time and effort I will also put forward that we live in a much different world than even twenty years ago. When I count the people who are important to me it is a longer list that is further afield than many would have a few years ago. To mail the same letter I sent this morning to nearly 180 people in probably eighteen countries would have taken me not half a day to write, but likely two weeks or more working full time. That is not even counting the postage stamps (which assuming each was a Canadian address would have cost me some $90), at least 360 sheets of paper plus 180 envelopes. In short it would have been unmanageable, and rather than reaching out to a lot of people I would have probably written to the 5-10 who are closest to me... if at all. It would have had to have been completed a week before I wanted them to receive the letter, and Canada Post could not possibly have guaranteed that everyone had received it, let alone told me that they had. To then start to receive replies from these people - assume 1-5% return on that - could have taken anywhere from a fortnight to three months.
Some of the people I have written to are people who I have known for years and who have already written back, but had I culled the list to 10 names would never have made the cut. A colleague of mine who is now a peer, but when I first met him he was trying to teach me the basics of network administration as I struggled along with the rest of the class - it is probably hard to imagine (especially for those whom I have taught) that once upon a time I knew so little about networking but Eric remembers the days before I passed my first certification exam, and his words of praise having watched me grow warmed my heart. If I had to write it out by hand he would not have made the cut and I am sure he understands that. I am glad he got it.
I have friends and colleagues from across Canada - Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and points in between - who have replied to my letter in three languages all of whom I care about and none of whom would have received the letter if I had to pick ten.
If you are reading my blog on a regular basis you know that every word that I write is there for a reason; I put a lot of thought into my words because they represent who I am. That is the effort and thought that went into what I wrote, and the fact that I transmitted electronically rather than by mail should upset nobody other than Canada Post. I hope that the people who received my letter who know they would not have made the cut of ten are pleased to have received it. If not they do not have to read it... and no tree was harmed in so doing. There is little debate that e-mail is more environmentally friendly than paper, especially since most of the people who receive my e-mail would be using the same electricity anyhow. While I am by no means a tree-hugger I also do believe in unnecessary waste. If my grandparents (of blessed memory) were alive today I would have printed out this letter and mailed it to them because they would likely not have a computer, but I would not write it out longhand for them... and they certainly would have made the cut of ten.
Another plus on the side of e-mails is that some people will reply with quick one- or two-line replies which does not mean they do not care... it means they read my letter, and are acknowledging it. In the first five hours since I sent the letter I received nine replies, some acknowledgments and some longer. Within the first five hours (during which nobody in North America was in their office and likely half of them were asleep for the entire time) I still received a 5% return, and I am sure as dawn breaks first on the East Coast and follows the path forged by the explorers more will continue to flood in. Had this been sent by regular post I might expect a higher return rate in the first month, but never on the day I mailed it. I did not expect a long reply from anyone, but the acknowledgements are still important to me. In the days of hand-written letters I could likely expect to hear from those more inclined to write letters, and none of the quick acknowledgments.
I consider myself a man of letters partly defined by my love and mastery of the English language (and to a lesser degree a number of others as well). I also consider myself a pragmatist who acknowledges that as nice as it is to receive a hand-written letter (I believe I have received two this year) it is the words, the feeling, the meaning that are important and not the method of delivery. The meaning outweighs the medium.
I hope more people follow my lead and write such updates to their friends and family, whether it be at the holidays, a birthday, or whenever they feel the urge. I hope they take the time to consider their words as I do but if they do not then let them first be true in their meaning and intent. I hope that they avoid shortcuts 4 U cannot love them as you can words. If they are less proficient let them use spell-checkers and grammar assistants because others will find it easier to understand and will respect them more. And most importantly I hope that you and yours enjoy a wonderful holiday season filled with love, happiness, and joy.