Edited by Nicholas Roy Butcher, Sunday 13 February 2022 at 14:43
Dear Blog,
While watching a television programme recently, I noticed one of the protagonists pose the question - 'Whatever happened to love letters?' Do people ever actually put pen to paper in these days of digitalisation? Does anybody express their love with flowing prose, pretty similes, or voluminous expositions of never-ending affection?
The sad truth of the matter is that, for the vast majority of people, no, this doesn't happen. In these days of mass media available with a simple tap of your smartphone screen, the competition for our attention is increasingly fierce and takes up large amounts of our time. Who has the space in their life to sit down and write an actual letter when there are a thousand 'feeds' to scroll through on one's social media portal?
The act of writing a letter shows so much more about a person than just the words on the page. The words are important, of course, but the quality of your handwriting, presentation of the letter, the way you sign off at the end, all communicate your character just as much.
Has the art of communicating our love for one another been lost?
The honest answer to that is, no, of course it hasn't. But how we do it has certainly changed. With all the technology and machines which help us to be ever more lazy in the course of our modern daily lives, we seem to have less and less time. Affectionate and expressive missives have been replaced by a love heart emoji on a chat screen. Brevity in action. Time is short.
Recently on the A111 module we have been looking at the question - 'what is courage?' Courage can take many forms, from facing a terminal illness with dignity, facing down a bully at school or work, or telling your best friend the truth, no matter how much it may hurt them (and put your friendship in jeopardy). So, courage is the strength to confront one's fears, even though there may be a great personal cost.
In a similar vein I have asked myself the question - 'what is true love?' Is it the all-consuming passion and infatuation of Romeo and Juliet? Is it the patience, tolerance and compromise of a couple who have been married for thirty years? Is it the come-what-may blood tie of familial loyalty?
Love is a many faceted creature which inspires passion, loyalty, compromise, respect, patience and simple affection. So true love is all of these things, including the strength to let go of the person you love, if that is what will secure their happiness. Not an easy thing to do. Love is hard. True love takes courage.
The way we choose to express ourselves in the digital age has changed. We may have exchanged the verbose epistle for a love heart emoji on our smartphone screens, but when all is said and done, it is still a love letter.
Lettres d'Amour
Dear Blog,
While watching a television programme recently, I noticed one of the protagonists pose the question - 'Whatever happened to love letters?' Do people ever actually put pen to paper in these days of digitalisation? Does anybody express their love with flowing prose, pretty similes, or voluminous expositions of never-ending affection?
The sad truth of the matter is that, for the vast majority of people, no, this doesn't happen. In these days of mass media available with a simple tap of your smartphone screen, the competition for our attention is increasingly fierce and takes up large amounts of our time. Who has the space in their life to sit down and write an actual letter when there are a thousand 'feeds' to scroll through on one's social media portal?
The act of writing a letter shows so much more about a person than just the words on the page. The words are important, of course, but the quality of your handwriting, presentation of the letter, the way you sign off at the end, all communicate your character just as much.
Has the art of communicating our love for one another been lost?
The honest answer to that is, no, of course it hasn't. But how we do it has certainly changed. With all the technology and machines which help us to be ever more lazy in the course of our modern daily lives, we seem to have less and less time. Affectionate and expressive missives have been replaced by a love heart emoji on a chat screen. Brevity in action. Time is short.
Recently on the A111 module we have been looking at the question - 'what is courage?' Courage can take many forms, from facing a terminal illness with dignity, facing down a bully at school or work, or telling your best friend the truth, no matter how much it may hurt them (and put your friendship in jeopardy). So, courage is the strength to confront one's fears, even though there may be a great personal cost.
In a similar vein I have asked myself the question - 'what is true love?' Is it the all-consuming passion and infatuation of Romeo and Juliet? Is it the patience, tolerance and compromise of a couple who have been married for thirty years? Is it the come-what-may blood tie of familial loyalty?
Love is a many faceted creature which inspires passion, loyalty, compromise, respect, patience and simple affection. So true love is all of these things, including the strength to let go of the person you love, if that is what will secure their happiness. Not an easy thing to do. Love is hard. True love takes courage.
The way we choose to express ourselves in the digital age has changed. We may have exchanged the verbose epistle for a love heart emoji on our smartphone screens, but when all is said and done, it is still a love letter.