Some of my greatest pleasures as a writer and editor are the notes I received from readers over the years. Some continue to stay in contact, and I have come to consider them as friends. I have kept almost all the notes I have received during the past 25 years, and, occasionally, while cleaning out my files, I take them out and re-read them.
They often give me the boost of encouragement I need when my spirit is lagging. I am grateful for them and the people who took the time to write them.
I am certainly giving away my age by admitting I lived during the time of Emily Post manners, which meant such things as white gloves when you went shopping, Sunday best clothes for Mass, and cultivating the now lost art of the thank you note.
I learned that manners, and especially expressions of gratitude, are more than just trite social mores. They are opportunities to express respect and appreciation of others, build and nurture relationships, and develop that most crucial virtue—gratitude.
I believe the power of the handwritten note of any kind lies in both the words, a creative power themselves, and the time spent to write it and deliver it. You never know what good those two creative forces, time and words, will bring in to the lives of others.
When I was cleaning out my childhood home after the death of my parents, I discovered among their most treasured possessions letters sent between them during my father’s military service, poems and notes I had written to them as a child, cards with notes inside from friends and acquaintances, and even from high school students in the school where my mom worked as a secretary.
Many of those notes were expressions of gratitude for things my parents would never have considered as exceptional. What was exceptional for them were the thank you notes.
To be honest, I have fallen short in this area over the years. I could give dozens of excuses why, but they would be just that, excuses. Indeed, the world is different. We communicate so much digitally we often forget about the legacy of paper and pen—a sad thing for me as a writer to be admitting.
Still, I want to truly embrace what I have always believed—not everything old fashioned is outdated or without value. So I have posted a reminder at my computer, where I have also stashed some lovely, inexpensive blank note cards and a sheet of stamps.
The reminder is a Scripture quote from Ephesians, under the heading Children of Light: “Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:19,20).
Mary Regina Morrell is a Catholic journalist, author, and syndicated columnist who has served the dioceses of Metuchen and Trenton, New Jersey, and RENEW International in the areas of catechesis and communication.