Why We Don’t Write Love Letters Anymore
Recall any love story based 40–50 years ago, and chances are that love letters played their part in bringing the star-crossed lovers together. Passed on by hiding in books or in secret locations or simply handed over to a known aid.
I walked into a library with my eyes darting around the many shelves of books. I chose a random book and pulled it out. A paper fell out. I picked it up and even before my fingers could unfurl the paper, my heart knew the words. The words written by another, meant for me.
He hadn’t written many words but what he had written was that this paper was meant to be a chance, a chance for the universe to find his woman.
I smiled. Who wrote like that? Open, direct, and naked in a way that the people aren’t used to. He seemed like a simpleton but would a simpleton have the courage to surrender his destiny to the hands of the universe?
That was exactly what I wrote in my response to him. Hidden in the same book, waiting for him to read it.
I went back to the library every evening, checking if he had read the note, if he had responded to me. About two weeks later, he responded, but not with an answer but with a poem. A poem, so deep that its spell would bind us both together for a lifetime.
Now, that would be romantic. But things like that hardly happen anymore. The only way we trust the universe now is by swiping left.
You could always argue that people don’t go to libraries anymore, or that they aren’t “simpletons”. Under all this, there is a deep seeded need for this generation that a love letter cannot satisfy. That need for instant gratification.
We are used to texting and getting a response immediately, and when we don’t, we call. That is one benefit of technology. We are well connected to not have to wait for weeks, to know if our partner loves us. But are we too well connected? to have lost the personal touch of putting a pen to paper and jotting down our heart?
There is a fair argument that we could make where the generation of swiping has not only lost the beauty that words could capture but has decided to slowly fade them away into acronyms. I mean ILU isn’t the same as I Love You. But hey, it means the same. Who has the time to type extra letters? and that too for your beloved partner?
Whatever reason you choose to believe in, none of us can get rid of the need for instant gratification that has become a major part of the way our lives have been molded.
Why read a book? know the story in 3 hours by watching a half-hearted movie. I am yet to come across a movie that is better than the book. But alas, movies win. Instant gratification.
Why save up and buy yourself the car? get it right now with a little bit of loan. The monthly pay cut would hardly feel like a pinch. Instant gratification.
Why cook healthy food? junk is tasty, available and you get a bonus of not having to clean your kitchen. Instant gratification.
Maybe that is why love isn’t the same anymore, we don’t invest enough time. The instantaneous nature of today’s love makes it ephemeral.
The seed of love may be sown but there isn’t the patience required to water it every day and for the love to blossom.
Bring back the love letters and what they represented.
Bring back the romanticism of the old.
Bring back the ability to allow the words to be more than mere words, to be the passion unchained.
Thank you for reading!
