anarchival

I considered another sermon for the first day of Advent, maybe something on a personal virtue to cultivate over the next month, but in the end I decided on something more practical that I’ve been working on. It stems from my love of writing, particularly letter writing. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved to send and receive mail. I even collected stamps (it helped that I had relatives who worked at the local post office). Beyond pens and stationary and stamps, though, there is something magical about communicating through the post.

Many writers now lament the death of letters since we can communicate online instantaneously and worldwide, but then writers had those same laments as far back as 1890, reportedly due to their busy lives and the advent of newspapers. Services like Postcrossing demonstrate how people still long to make a personal connection through physical correspondence. Online communication is fantastic precisely because of its ease, speed, and low cost, but that also makes a letter or card that much more special to the recipient. Since sending a card or letter requires extra effort (and if you’re creative, allows for much greater expression), it has the potential to give a much greater message of hope, affection, or encouragement to the person receiving it.

Christmas cards are already a time-honored holiday tradition, but for the past two years I’ve decided to send some of them with a different recipient in mind. The Red Cross has started the Holiday Mail for Heroes program which gives Americans the opportunity to send holiday mail to soldiers serving in the wars overseas. I bought a box of cards and wrote a message in each one, sending them as a package to the Red Cross, who then forwards them to the soldiers. I encourage everyone to write at least one card and send it this holiday season. The submission period closes on Monday, December 7th.

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