I had a series of e-mails from my cousin Mike this morning, each with an attachment. The letters he sent were written in 1937 and 1940. One addressed to an uncle was written by grandfather a few months before his death and announced my birth. The other two were written by a young aunt dying of TB. It describes her daily routine at a hospital in Norton, Kansas.
How special that these letters still exist, that someone valued them enough to save them all this time. Do people actually save letters or e-mails anymore? Do we actually value what is written by others enough to do so? or are we too wrapped up in our own lives and the future to hang onto something that describes day to day events of what we would term normal life?
Some day our grandchildren might find our routines interesting. Maybe we should think about giving them that opportunity. No, I'm not advocating for saving every scrap of written info and cluttering up the place. It is precicely the fact that the letters I mentioned are so rare that make them so valuable. We must find a compromise between saving everything and thowing it all out. That is the tricky part. But just give it a thought before discarding the baby with the bath water, so to speak.
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