Even castaways frown on junk mail<\/p>\n
By Myra Sidharta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Life on a small island can be very lonesome with
\nthe only link to the outside world being the mail. I experienced
\nthis as a little girl. Mail then meant surface mail, not airmail
\nand certainly not E-mail or facsimiles. When I speak of my
\nchildhood I refer to, as the Dutch would say, van voor de oorlog,
\nthose people who were born before World War II.<\/p>\n
When the mail came on Thursday, along with the letters from
\nfriends and relatives there would be heaps of newspapers and
\nmagazines because my father was the distributor for the entire
\nisland. Thursday was the happiest day of the week for me because
\nbefore the magazines were sent to the subscribers, my sisters and
\nI would read them and fight over the stamps.<\/p>\n
Now, with the advent of modern technology, there are a lot of
\ncomplaints about the mail. My mailman only comes three times a
\nweek and the mail is so slow that I sometimes receive invitations
\nfor events that took place a few days earlier. A letter from
\nSouth Jakarta can take two weeks to reach its destination in West
\nJakarta. People even complain that they don't receive some
\nletters at all. The mailman has probably dumped them somewhere.<\/p>\n
What has gone wrong? I looked for an answer by looking into
\nthe mail system. I even ventured into a post office to send a
\nregistered letter. Anyone wanting to follow in my footsteps,
\n\"Don't! Unless you are very brave.\"<\/p>\n
You might attempt to queue up, but this just doesn't happen in
\nIndonesian post offices. You'll be laughed at as you wait your
\nturn in a sea of humanity. Bill Dalton wrote in the Indonesian
\nHandbook, \"Go up to the clump of people and push your letter as
\nfar as possible through the barred window to gain the attention
\nof the postal clerk. Then try to squeeze your money into some gap
\nbetween all the other hands. These are acceptable manners at an
\nIndonesian post office.\" In spite of the lack of manners, Dalton
\nsays that the postal service is fairly efficient. I therefore had
\nto look elsewhere to find why the mailman is reluctant to visit
\nmy house.<\/p>\n
I therefore took a close look at the mail he delivers. Do I
\nreceive it all with the pleasure of my childhood? Well, some of
\nit, like letters from friends, wedding invitations, exhibition
\nopenings and birth announcements.<\/p>\n
There is also the mail that is less welcomed, like bills,
\nwhile reminders that subscriptions are expiring can be annoying,
\nalthough quite useful.<\/p>\n
Sadly, most of the mail delivered to my house is useless.
\nBeautifully printed ads for expensive jewelry, cars, houses and
\nother luxuries. Offers for memberships to exclusive clubs,
\nincluding golf clubs which are way beyond my budget. I receive at
\nleast four of each every day, one for each member of the family,
\nand sometimes more because my name can be spelled different ways.<\/p>\n
Once I received an envelope with \"CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE
\nBEEN CHOSEN\" splashed across the front. It triggered my
\ncuriosity, but I was disappointed when I saw that all the members
\nof the family had received the same envelope. Could the whole
\nfamily have been so lucky? It's strange that we get chosen again
\nand again every month at the same time. It is all a lot of mail
\ndestined for the garbage bin.<\/p>\n
I am quite sure that this is why the mailman has become so
\nlazy. He has been reduced to a sort of garbage man. In fact, he
\nwouldn't' be so lazy if he actually was a garbage man, but, as it
\nis now, he has become a middleman. He lugs the mail to the
\naddressee who decides which envelope to trash and which one to
\nkeep. His load is becoming heavier and heavier.<\/p>\n
This situation should be called to an end. Advertising through
\nthe mail should be banned. Instead, people should write more
\nletters, like R.A. Kartini, Indonesia's first woman to advocate
\nwomen's rights. We know about Kartini's thoughts and life
\nthrough the hundreds of letters she wrote to her friends in
\nHolland. Virginia Woolf also left thousands of letters, and,
\nafter editing, these letters were published in six volumes.<\/p>\n
In spite of Freud's busy schedule, he wrote thousands of
\nletters in longhand to his friends. Researchers have been able to
\nreconstruct his life and his thoughts from these letters. Is this
\nnot important to people today? Maybe this is why both the
\nPresident and Vice President have requested Indonesians to write
\nmore letters.<\/p>\n
Another, more romantic, way to support the mailman is to write
\na postcard to your lover everyday. This was done by Simon
\nCarmiggelt, who sent a card everyday to his lover Renate
\nRubinstein everyday. Once, after coming home from a month long
\nholiday, an avalanche of cards tumbled down from her mailbox. I'm
\nsure the mailman would like this idea, he may fall for a little
\nromance too.<\/p>\n
In any case, advertisers must find more creative way of
\nreaching the consumer. Only that way will the mailman retrieve
\nhis original, dignified occupation.<\/p>",
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