A Paper Romantic...
An electronic message to a friend at 11:00 PM on a Saturday night:
Are you testing these on various social media platforms? It strikes me that our literary minds might see it differently than others.
Peronally, I love it. It has a little bit of rouge sass to it as well if you're alert to double entendre. (His new e-book title)
I've been journaling in cursive on paper again. I'm finding it to be a great end-of-day retreat into paper and long focus. It's probably good for my vocabulary, hand-eye coordination, and sleep due to the softer light, less dopamine, and lack of focus-breaking notifications.
I've decided to embark on a little project; I'm going to spend a night or three each month actually penning hand-written paper letters (Not just postcards) to my closest friends and family, most especially my son, nieces, and nephews.
Think how rare it is for young people in this era to get an actual letter, hand-written, that be saved for decades and even a century or three if conditions are right.
How often does or has this happened for them? I bet from you can count them on one hand to none.
Think about the deeper ramifications of that lack.
I talked with a couple of maybe 20-somethings here in a small town at the Office Depot, and one said a couple of girls had written him. The other said his grandmother. Both had a wistful look on their faces when thinking of it, and viewed it with reverence, saying how much more personal it was than other ways of communicating. My son said he's only received 3 such letters in his entire life, and he's 36.
We need to write to our youth.
Not to rag or berate, but to bridge. To share our hopes and wishes for them. To leave a positive legacy for the future with heart and soul, not just machine-like electronic communication in an environment designed to disrupt focus and feelings; a smartphone with all its endless notifications.
There's a place for that, like planning, or pick up the milk, but you can't save it in a box and come back to it for solace in 30 years. It's a natural heart-filter, John.
We need the elder sense of romance, meaning heartful rather than lustful that comes with pen and paper to still exist in the world.
We should lead with our hearts on paper and leave the sandpaper wits to the machines.
AquarianM
By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 09/12/2026
Author's Note:
Both John and I are long-time writers and poets, and have even done some collaborative work over the past 20 years or so, even though we have never once set foot in the same city at the same time. Something else the Internet used to be good for. - Dan
