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Post by DJW1066 on Mar 21, 2016 12:18:57 GMT
The attached, (and hopefully inserted), page is extracted from Into The Silence by Wade Davis, about the great war, Mallory, and the conquest of Everest. For context, this extract references the 1921 British expedition to explore Everest and its approaches. It's laden with the significance of "mail", but here is one paragraph in particular from the extract: "In an age of letters, it was not only the receipt of correspondence that maintained a lifeline, it was the grace and comfort that came in the moment of reply, when each man could share private thoughts, vent frustrations, and express fears, knowing that convention demanded discretion, and that a private letter between gentlemen or an intimate note .. implied an inviolable trust." I wonder how these men would have felt about the onset of facebook, twitter, instagram, and so forth? Into the Silence extract.pdf (434.93 KB)
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Post by distractedmom on Mar 21, 2016 13:34:55 GMT
The attached, (and hopefully inserted), page is extracted from Into The Silence by Wade Davis, about the great war, Mallory, and the conquest of Everest. For context, this extract references the 1921 British expedition to explore Everest and its approaches. It's laden with the significance of "mail", but here is one paragraph in particular from the extract: "In an age of letters, it was not only the receipt of correspondence that maintained a lifeline, it was the grace and comfort that came in the moment of reply, when each man could share private thoughts, vent frustrations, and express fears, knowing that convention demanded discretion, and that a private letter between gentlemen or an intimate note .. implied an inviolable trust." I wonder how these men would have felt about the onset of facebook, twitter, instagram, and so forth? I am a big social media user, but I think that helps me to appreciate a real letter even more. I have found that I really enjoy sitting down to compose a letter, sending it off into the wild to someone. And receiving a letter that is meant just for me always brings a smile to my face. Social media allows me to communicate with many people in a very fast and impersonal way, and there's a time and a place for that. But I don't think anything compares to the intimacy of a real, handwritten letter.
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Post by chojo on Mar 21, 2016 14:21:45 GMT
I've never fully understood the "buzz" of social media, I have a twitter account that I use to follow various newspapers and other sources of information relevant to me and an Instagram account that I opened because one of my pen pals uses it a lot but I've never posted anything on there myself. I think it really all depends on the type of person you are. I would imagine the fellows in your book would love the ability to share things instantly with each other, after all waiting 6 to 10 weeks for mail to travel from Darjeeling and heaven knows how long from their point of origin is not something todays society would cope with. For me as someone whose only friends are correspondence, the letters I receive are invaluable to me regardless of the time it takes them to get there. Nothing can put a smile on my face quicker than a handwritten envelope falling on the mat, even the fact that they are generally swamped under pizza menus and the myriad of other junk that comes through my door everyday! To so many people these days if it doesn't come in a hyper second and with all the bells and whistles needed to edit it instantly, they just don't want to know and I suppose that's progress but just maybe now and then if people slowed down just a little, they may find something that, like me, can brighten your day in a way they never thought possible.
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Post by penguy on May 5, 2018 0:25:19 GMT
I really appreciated the quote, thank you! A letter feels like a closer connection to the person I'm corresponding with than any email. The email is something I type off in a moment and I can't think of an email that I have ever sent that has any great amount of depth or thought. Some of my letters take a day or two to write, I am responding to someone at a very thoughtful level. I find I weigh my words and I am responding to the other person. A letter I write may be light and bright and funny in response to a letter that is also light and bright and funny. Other letters can really require a depth of thought, a seriousness, and a measure of empathy in the writing. My emails aren't anything like that, they are more or less throw away communications, Hi, what you doing, Oh lol. I wonder if those who grow up in the digital age will have any idea what they might be missing.
My Facebook participation is looking at what others are putting out there. I add very little, a comment here or there, a photo of some flowers, but I am hesitant to say much and I think that is very much justified by what Facebook did to it's participants. A letter zeros in on a specific person offering a much more personal interaction.
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