How anyone can believe, that the exchange of thoughts, feelings, and ideas in writing is less whether it is written on paper and stamped and sent from hand to hand, or in an email and sent through the universe untouched by any hands except those who type them and perhaps answer them, is beyond me.
Written words escape time. They are not bound by the frailties of human bodies, or circumstances of almost any sort. Kept to themselves they are possibly the most honest way for two minds to meet without the encumbrances of any social mores.
Like anything else they can be used for good or bad, but to believe they are less than because they are not face-to-face is a gross misunderstanding of what is possible. All that is not possible is physical contact. Everything else has the possibility of being much more intimate and clear.
History is full of letter writers whose most personal thoughts are now saved for the ages. How little we would know of real life and real people had they not written it down. In today’s world of fantasy and film, novels and television sized reality programs, the truth of our world is twisted to entertain. One’s personal emails and letters are not chained to this distortion. They may be the only link to today’s actual reality for future generations.
There is a vast difference between texting that disappears and twittering that is one more form of entertainment and emails between friends, although I suppose there doesn’t have to be.
In the long run, anyone who has someone they can share their most innermost thoughts with and not be afraid of being misunderstood or given up as lost is luckier than most of the people I know.
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