Since returning from a vacation trip to Utah and Nevada noted in earlier Bolgs, I began assembling a series of letters written by my children to us as parents. Those are being preserved in document holders for reading at some future time by our children. I have also preserved letters written to my Mother regarding our activities and life at the time of the letter.
The above is an extraction from a collection of letters written to my Mother on November 28, 1977, an example of some factual details of my life at that particular time. I’m bringing this to the attention of my readers because this is part of a letter from antiquity. Your children or your parents will never have the blessing of reading about the details of ones life, unless, of course one keeps a faithful journal. That is so, because our society no longer writes letters. My grandson, Blake Brooks, who is a freshman in high school, has been reading a book for an English class called ” Fahrenheit 451 “. The author, Ray Bradbury, wrote the book some time ago where in he describes a future society of people that do not communicate with each other. They are entertained by TV, emails, video games and other methods of electronic communications. Verbal skills of communication and points of view are lost as every thing is done alone by the individual.
I suspect the author was a little prophetic as I believe that we find ourselves in similar circumstances today. So I say that letters preserved from the past are antique. They reveal the past to future generations that ,perhaps , cannot be obtained from other sources except journals. Few have the discipline to make daily, weekly, or annual entries and so future generations will know little about us.
I joined an internet site some time ago which allows one to keep a journal at their site with pictures. Interestingly, I was reminded a few days ago by the site to make some entries into my journal as I had not accessed it for some time. My journal entries, when I make them, are usually fact oriented and very little is given regarding impressions, testimony, or other esoterically oriented items. This is illustrated by the facts given in the letter above.
Since letter writing is a thing of the past, journal keeping should continue to be a priority in our lives. I know that sons and daughters who have gone on missions for the church have wonderful records of their missionary work through letter writing and they have been preserved for their posterity which is a great treasure. But after returning home, letter writing is a thing of the past. How about a thought provoking letter to a family member? Even though society doesn’t engage in letter writing any more, give it a try and buy a postage stamp. We have one good example to look to, Taunya Brooks.
P.S. Here is Blake’s commentary on the book mentioned above.:
“Let me put it this way, conflict makes people unhappy. Why have two sides to a story, that only makes people argue to make sure that their side wins. Why not just simple take one side away, every one agrees with each other. Better yet take both sides away so people don't feel stupid about not knowing much about their side. fill their heads with useless information, fill them up so they know all about it. Now they think that they are geniuses, now they can walk around happy because they know every thing about nothing. And with this sense of happiness, give them items of entertainment, e.g. Radios, TV’s, video games, cars that go 200 miles an hour. What about books? They have deferential opinions; they are conveyers of memories and things to come. A book about slavery comes out. Its an inspirational tale. It showed what slavery was like. It gives the black community a reason to feel thankful again, but what about the white people. They feel bad about the whole slavery issue. They try to denounce facts and loose the guilt. What will happen now? They are unhappy. That must not happen, it must be shut up, it must be locked away, it must burnt. They must be set ablaze, all of the books, they all have some controversy. If people ask questions, give them a new TV show and they all forget. If they try and stop us, they are criminals in our law. This is the easy way.” (Blake Brooks)
I suspect the author was a little prophetic as I believe that we find ourselves in similar circumstances today. So I say that letters preserved from the past are antique. They reveal the past to future generations that ,perhaps , cannot be obtained from other sources except journals. Few have the discipline to make daily, weekly, or annual entries and so future generations will know little about us.
I joined an internet site some time ago which allows one to keep a journal at their site with pictures. Interestingly, I was reminded a few days ago by the site to make some entries into my journal as I had not accessed it for some time. My journal entries, when I make them, are usually fact oriented and very little is given regarding impressions, testimony, or other esoterically oriented items. This is illustrated by the facts given in the letter above.
Since letter writing is a thing of the past, journal keeping should continue to be a priority in our lives. I know that sons and daughters who have gone on missions for the church have wonderful records of their missionary work through letter writing and they have been preserved for their posterity which is a great treasure. But after returning home, letter writing is a thing of the past. How about a thought provoking letter to a family member? Even though society doesn’t engage in letter writing any more, give it a try and buy a postage stamp. We have one good example to look to, Taunya Brooks.
P.S. Here is Blake’s commentary on the book mentioned above.:
“Let me put it this way, conflict makes people unhappy. Why have two sides to a story, that only makes people argue to make sure that their side wins. Why not just simple take one side away, every one agrees with each other. Better yet take both sides away so people don't feel stupid about not knowing much about their side. fill their heads with useless information, fill them up so they know all about it. Now they think that they are geniuses, now they can walk around happy because they know every thing about nothing. And with this sense of happiness, give them items of entertainment, e.g. Radios, TV’s, video games, cars that go 200 miles an hour. What about books? They have deferential opinions; they are conveyers of memories and things to come. A book about slavery comes out. Its an inspirational tale. It showed what slavery was like. It gives the black community a reason to feel thankful again, but what about the white people. They feel bad about the whole slavery issue. They try to denounce facts and loose the guilt. What will happen now? They are unhappy. That must not happen, it must be shut up, it must be locked away, it must burnt. They must be set ablaze, all of the books, they all have some controversy. If people ask questions, give them a new TV show and they all forget. If they try and stop us, they are criminals in our law. This is the easy way.” (Blake Brooks)
3 comments:
Very telling. I love getting and sending letters in the mail. I made sure to write "hand-written" letters to each of my sons while they were in the mission field. A real wake-up call. Thanks.
This is a very provocative subject. And I agree that so much communication is lost when it is so easy to call or write an email....nothing left to leave behind. Great commentary, Blake!! Love, Shauna
Well put! (that goes for the both of you, Uncle Roy AND Blake!) I've heard about this book and it DOES sound a bit prophetic, considering our society today. Thanks for posting :)
Post a Comment