Monday, February 26, 2007

LETTERS

Letters...
It really is kind of sad how people don't write letters anymore. I am an exception. I love to write letters and I often do. When I was in Korea, I wrote a minimum of one letter per week to friends and family telling them what my experience in Korea was like. I hope that they saved these letters as they truly capture an important time in my life. Since returning home, I haven't written any letters but I should start again. I am going through another important time in my life right now. A sort of crossroads. I want this time to be put in ink on a piece of paper that can be reread years or generations from now. I am not very good at journaling. I did keep one while I was in Korea, but it has been ignored for this blog. While I love this blog, will there be evidence of it in the future?

The reason that I am so concerned with having a written record of my life is because letters and journals is what much of our history is based on. It is how we know what people felt during the American revolution and how presidents handled major decisions. This is not to say that I plan on being a famous person whose letters are publishe and analyzed, but I'd like to think that I will leave behind something that shows insight into my life and heart.

I am currently reading a book called "Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages that Shaped Our Recent History." I am on the first chapter, which discussed Woodrow and Edith Wilson's marriage. What we know about their intimate lives is through their letters. While Woodrow seemed like a very moral and religious man in public, he was a very passionate person in private.

It scares me to think of people reading all of my journal (diary) entries. They will know too much about my neuroses through it, but letters are a little more edited. My letters capture my emotion and my experiences with a little more dignity.

I should write a letter tonight an keep this tradition alive.

Quote:
"We come to love not by finding a perfect person but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."
--Sam Keen, "To Love an Be Loved"

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