Archives

by Asitha Jayawardena

The postman rings the bell. You run to him and grab the letter. He pedals off. Suddenly a question rings in your mind. To open it or not? (The letter, not the question!) Anthrax rides post. This is no surprise. Evil has a tendency to ride post. According to English poet John Milton, evil news rides post while good news baits.

Let's turn to letters. To start with, writing letters is not easy. Especially short ones.

Lord Chesterfield once wrote to a friend: I'm sorry that I've written you a five-page letter; I didn't have time to write a one-page letter. And posting a letter is perhaps even more difficult, as highlighted by Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. This pioneer of the study of the unconscious mind reveals: Due to unknown motives, Jones left a letter for several days on his desk, forgetting each time to post it. He ultimately posted it, but it was returned to him from the Dead-letter Office because he forgot to address it.

Addressing it and posting it a second time, it was again returned to him, this time without a stamp. He was then forced to recognize the unconscious opposition to the sending of the letter.

Whether Jones went to the post office to buy a stamp is not known. However, British actor and theatre manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree did - and caused some trouble to the girl at the counter. He asked if she sold postage stamps and she replied in the affirmative. Then he asked her to show him some and she showed him a sheet of stamps.

"I'll have that one, please," he said, pointing to a stamp in the middle.

Due to various reasons, replying letters appears to be the most complicated part. Goodman Ace says: I would have answered your letter sooner, but you didn't send me one. Groucho Marx writes: Excuse me for not answering your letter sooner, but I've been so busy not answering letters that I couldn't get around to not answering to yours in time.

Despite all these complications and difficulties, letters and their accessories such as stamps offer various benefits to the society in general and to lovers in particular. English metaphysical poet John Donne says: More than kisses, letters mingle souls. A good example of a beneficiary is Wilfrid Gibson. He reveals: I read your letter through and through, And dreamt of all we'd say and do, Till in my heart the thought of you Rang like a bell

Letters can help you identify yourself as well as others. German philosopher Arthur Shopenhauer advises: If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him. Ada Leverson claims: You don't know a woman until you have had a letter from her. Sometimes letters can make you laugh - even hand delivered ones. See what an American teacher has received: Dear Teacher, Please excuse my son Joseph's absence on Friday as it was Ash Wednesday.

Signed, My mother. Not only letters, but stamps are beneficial too. According to New Zealand physicist Lord Rutherford, stamp collecting is more than a hobby.

This pioneer of modern atomic science, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908, says: All science is either physics or stamp collecting. And according to Josh Billings, stamps provide us a good lesson. He advises: Be like a postage stamp - stick to one thing until you get there.

Finally, whether you like it or not, you'll have to deal with letters until...Well, listen to English lexicographer, author and critic Samuel Johnson. He says: An odd thought strikes me; we shall receive no letters in the grave.

PS: Just see what Francis Bacon - English philosopher, politician and essayist - has got to say: I know one that when he wrote a letter he would put that which was material in the postscript, as if it has been a bymatter. So next time, when you read a letter, don't miss the postscript.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager