Letters: Why email is a poor substitute

Re “A love letter to the letter,” Opinion, Dec. 29

I so agree with Simon Garfield’s article about handwritten letters. I know that something is missing in e-mails. Even if they are detailed and caring, they will never replace a handwritten letter to express words to a friend or loved one.

Last summer, while my dear 90-year-old mother was in her last days, I found in the back of her desk a set of letters that my father had written to her while they were apart for a month in the fourth year of their marriage. They were a window into their love that would never have been saved with e-mails.

It was a treasure to find.

So, please let us not completely do away with the handwritten letter. Take up a pen and a piece of paper today and write that thank-you note, jot a note of news, write that letter of forgiveness, share you life with someone in a very personal way.

Someone will get a ray of sunshine in the mailbox.

Monica Wilson

La Habra

My husband had a cardiac arrest last year and because a tube was placed in his mouth, he could not talk. Our daughter brought him a legal pad for him to write whatever he wanted to express. On it he wrote questions, his emotions about his illness, messages to loved ones and even jokes.

His tube was removed and he recovered for a while, but six months later he had a respiratory arrest. He passed away on Valentine’s Day last year.

After reading Garfield’s article, I asked myself this: What if instead of a writing tablet my husband had been given a laptop or an iPad? It would not have been the same. The emotion and memories that his own writing brings could not ever be compared to a piece of printed matter or words on a cold computer screen.

I hope that the old, traditional way of communicating in writing will never be lost.

Gina del Río Pérez

San Gabriel

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