Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The power of a handwritten letter



I'm not a football fan, but I love this piece about Peyton Manning. I think it says a lot about him that he takes the time to send handwritten letters to former opponents when they retire. Writing letters is a habit I basically dropped altogether in the last few years. I don't even send cards anymore. On one hand, I think that's sad. On the other hand, it seems so counterproductive to go buy a card (spending money, killing a tree), write something in it, buy postage (I don't keep it around anymore) and take it somewhere to mail it. Gah! It sounds like so much work compared to e-mail.

But then I see these men and their appreciation for having received such a precious and unusual item. It almost seems to not matter what the letter says, even though the sentiments within *are* important. But if Manning had e-mailed those same words to these other players, no one would really take notice. The other men would have thought "Well, that's nice," and moved on with their day. Because Manning took the time to handwrite the letters and mail them, they have sticking power and carry a weight that no e-mail could.

This video originally aired on January 3 (according to my notes) and I wanted to post it a long time ago, but ESPN didn't put the video up on their site until February 6. *ahem* Are you listening, ESPN? Good thing I made a note to look for it again later. Unfortunately, "later" was now.