..Love letter costs not much, it takes some effort and a little time, but the result is everlasting.
Not surprisingly/ unfortunately people today prefer the world's most annoying instrument, the cell phone. The intrusive contraption demands less concentration and therefore less commitment. Mind you, in certain cases it's understandable, now that selling personal memorabilia to the press has become big business. And divorce lawyers counsel, "Don't text it!"
What is truly sad about the death of the love letter is that an entire aspect of romantic expression known to our grandparents has now vanished. Back in the good old days, people got to know each other through words rather than through deeds. Or, translation: syntax rather than sex. Relationships were more stable as a result. Just imagine if young people would correspond with each other for one year before taking the plunge. Would they take it? Probably not, but then I am assuming they both know how to write.
Of course, some people are better at writing love letters than others. I have a personal favorite that went as follows:
"Dear X, There's a marvelous line in Romeo and Juliet when Romeo, having avenged Mercutio's death, is banished from Verona. ‘Heaven is here, where Juliet lives’, he proclaimed. However sudden this may sound, or corny, this is how I've felt about you since the first moment I met you. Love, Max."
...Women (far more than men) are the victims of the love letter's demise. They like to be wooed, and nothing is better for a courtship battle than a letter. Being pounced on is not a woman's idea of romance, or so I believe, but then again I'm awfully old-fashioned. And it is far harder to win a woman's heart than to win her body.
Moreover, shyness does not inhibit when writing, at least not nearly as much as it does when speaking. This is why today's lack of love letters is a paradox. We are a far more prurient society, exposing ourselves in the most ludicrous manner, yet we will not write from the heart.
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