Say it with letters

Say it with letters

Stepping into the new year on Sunday President Soeharto kicked off a letter writing campaign. He advised Indonesians to revitalize the habit of writing letters.

The presidential appeal has provoked the awareness that the positive habit of letter writing is under threat. Although there has been no serious survey of the trend, the National Post Office, which has over the past years significantly improved its service, reports that it handles only 500 million letters a year. This means that the average Indonesian, who can now read and write, produces only 2.5 letters a year.

This figure is clearly very low and the government is obviously right to expect that the campaign will motivate every member of this nation of 190 million people to write at least 50 letters every year.

We regard this campaign as timely because the reality which we are observing at present is not at all a cheery one. Perhaps the problem is that modernization, albeit certainly bringing many benefits to our people, has robbed many of us of our old letter writing habit.

The growing role of the electronic media in our society and the rapid development of the telecommunications technology in this country -- where now almost every district has its own telephone exchange system -- has pushed the good habit into a defensive position.

Important messages can now be passed through the modern telecommunications system, which works faster. People tend to have less and less time for writing -- or even reading -- because watching TV programs is almost irresistible for many people.

But few realize that communication by telephone calls, telegrams, or even facsimiles, cannot replace the positive elements of letter writing.

Rabindranath Tagore, the famed Indian poet and philosopher, was very much right when he said letters had the power of speech which tongues do not possess. "And therefore when we meet," the sage said, "some parts of our thoughts will remain unuttered from the want of a great space and silence between us."

It may sound unbelievable but it is true that many lovelorn persons still address letters to Romeo or Juliet, the tragic leading personalities of Shakespeare's famous play. The letters, which their writers send to Verona, Italy, where the story is set, usually ask for solutions to their own personal problems. And the letters are answered by the people who manage the historic site, on behalf of the two legendary figures.

Through letters one can also maintain the bond of family ties better because in them one can fine-tune one's opinions, feelings and sentimental attachments to certain persons or places. A letter can also convey a serious message at length and thereby boost personal relationships.

Greater still, a letter can be documented and become a historical item. Many letters of great historical figures have disclosed more to us about history than any formal textbooks can. There are actually so many such letters that we cannot mention them one by one in this column. Remember, however, that letters sent by Indian leader Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru from his prison to his daughter Indira Gandhi in the 1930s were compiled into a book, which relates to us the march of mankind, and particularly that of the Indian independence movement. Letters also have revealed that Napoleon Bonaparte had a sentimental side to his nature.

During this present age of consumerism, in which values have dramatically changed and the sense of beauty has acquired new forms, people tend to be less shy. Thus, letters also help to reveal for future generations the spirit of the times in which their forebears lived. Thus, it may not be too much of an exaggeration to say that advising people to resuscitate the letter writing habit is almost tantamount to asking them to try to enjoy the beauty of the voice of the human soul, while preserving tiny but meaningful bits of history for their offspring.