We live in a very busy world often experienced at a frenetic pace. Perhaps the Welsh poet W.H. Davies got it right when he penned in his reflective poem “Leisure” at the turn of the last century; “What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.” Even though his words are over 100 years old, they are more relevant today more than ever. In our fast-paced, technologically minded society, we are accustomed to things happening quickly and almost immediately. The internet and e-mail have revolutionised our means of communicating with each other. Yet receiving a handwritten letter today is still one of great pleasures in life and all the more so for its increasing rarity!
With this in mind, Ms. Murphy’s fifth class recently ran a class awareness campaign, “Save the Snail Mail!” As part of the campaign, the students handwrote letters to their heroes, to the people they most admired! Cursive script, envelopes and stamps for once replaced the convenience of the ‘send’ button. The beautiful, individual handwriting styles added that extra special personal touch that the cold hard font of email just cannot capture. The letters were sent ‘snail mail’ far and wide, local and international, to all continents of the world, to sports stars, to musicians and singers, to R.T.E. personalities, to authors-you name it, and they had it covered!!
It was going to be pretty special for the lucky recipients. On this occasion, no text, no tweet, no email but the joy of receiving a handwritten letter!
But would it work? Would anyone respond?……
