Let’s talk about the dying art of the hand written greeting card…
It’s
Mike Winslowdyingno, it’s dead.
The Hand Written Greeting Card
Imagine you were alive some years B.P. (before phone (patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876)). Your only means to conduct business and stay in touch with distant family and friends was hand written correspondence…
Upon further consideration, I withdraw my request. It may be too difficult to “imagine” living in a world without instant connection with the other 6 billion humans on the planet. After all, what would life be if every person in my social sphere couldn’t be informed of the every day delicious plate of food I’m preparing to devour? Or my latest pet peeve? Or highlights of my vacation?
I don’t want to appear to be old fashioned, so I’ll agree that world is better place now that we all have that resource at our finger tips. But what about the special occasions? Even A.P. (after phone) special occasions merited a trip to the store to buy the card that best expressed your sentiment (care) for the person. The occasion could be a birthday, holiday, celebration of an achievement, a death or any number of things worth noting or celebrating.
The beauty of the hand written greeting card is this. The recipient (the person(s) you love and care about) receive the good energy stored in the paper containing the images and the words you have carefully selected to convey your feelings. The hand written greeting card can express love, concern, interest and solidarity with the person you are in relationship with far greater than some digital greeting that required no expense and little effort to create.
Maybe I am old fashioned.
Old Fashioned Greeting Cards
Patty and I have been sending old fashioned greeting cards during the winter holiday season since we’ve been together. Yes, it’s an effort and have you seen the price of stamps lately? But for us, we see it as an opportunity to send out good into a very negative world. An ancient text says, life and death are in the power of the tongue (words). As I see it, it is within my power to send out life, and an old fashioned greeting card is the perfect vehicle.
Here are our holiday card fronts since 2015.
Last weekend we took a trip to Echo Bluff Lodge State Park in the southern Missouri Ozarks where we enjoyed a little hiking and some down time. While we were there we made our 2021 holiday card photo at Alley Spring Mill. It was just under 30 degrees and the sun hadn’t reached the bottom of the valley. It was quite chilly.
The next step is to craft some life-giving words and send these cards out remembering the words of a contemporary poet.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
Come to think of it, sending out a couple hundred hand written greeting cards makes us feel good too!
Closing Thoughts
Of course, my faithful followers (all 33 of them) know I create custom greeting cards, but I wanted you to know it’s not too late to make a trip to Hallmark, the dollar store or make a call to Mike Winslow Creative so that you also can be a conveyor of good, positive life-giving words. I know it takes work and you will have to make sure you have current addresses for everyone on your list, but I think in the end, you’ll discover the satisfaction of making the world a better place is worth the effort.
Thanks for dropping in and please leave your thoughts in the appropriate box below.
Happy Card Sending,
Mike
Ps. After years of rejection, one of my pieces was accepted into a “juried” art show. “The Big Bang” formerly known as Mike’s Balls will be hanging at Framations Art Gallery until January.
