Most days I put my fingers to the keyboard. I'm thinking that is true for a great many of us. Whether it is on a computer keyboard ,cellphone or even a virtual keyboard our fingers are flyin'. Well, in my case not exactly flying but their speed has increased over the years. There was a time when we put pen to paper in much the same way but no more. These electronic messages we send back and forth I am told are not really ever lost. They can be retrieved on a server somewhere, unless of course that server belonged to Hillary Clinton or the IRS, but I digress. The point is our communications are being saved. I do not believe they will be as permanent as when we put pen to paper however. We have many letters, documents, books and papers from hundreds of years back that have survived, will a server do the same ? I just don't think so. The way our technology changes so rapidly I can't see that happening with everyday stuff. Sure important or historically significant data files will be preserved, probably printed out, but what of the words of the common man ? Will those words too be saved ?
Some time back I began to copy selected blogs I have written into a notebook. I'm making a " hard " copy for future generations. I've already lost some of my writings and ramblings on old hard drives that have crashed. I was able to recover some and others are lost forever. These writings have no great historical significance or are of any great redeeming value but that is not the point. The point is they are lost. That isn't to say that things in the past weren't lost or destroyed. The Library at Alexandria is one huge example. No one knows what may have been lost there, Various governments have burned and destroyed books. Thing is, in almost all cases something remained, a sole survivor was treasured somewhere. We have learned much from old correspondence. What started out as personal exchanges were then saved and later provided historical reference. Consider the letters home from men off in battle somewhere. What of the seafarers and travelers that have written journals. All these things are valuable. And all of these are the words of the common man.
I do wonder what will remain fifty years from now. Will you have cards and letters saved ? My Mom does and they are seldom seen, but they are there. Old letters saved. I believe a good portion of us still exchange greeting cards, that business is not in any immediate jeopardy. How many of us save them ? I usually do not, I admit to that and can't really say why. I keep them around for a good while but almost always throw them out, reluctantly. Perhaps I should start to save them, put them in a central location. Would they be of interest to anyone else ? That is something I will have to give thought to. There is something very personal about a person's handwritten card or notes. Even when those same cards and notes say little they are that way, just a signature is personal. I think it may be because that person took the time to do that. Now we can do that a lot more quickly but it is losing it's personality. All type pretty much looks the same. Yes I know you can change the " font ". But a handwritten piece can be identified by that writing alone, if you are familiar with the person doing the writing. I can tell who sent the letter by the handwriting on the envelope. Very difficult to accomplish that with a text message !
It is these words of the common man that I think about being lost. I have very few of these words myself. I have no example of my Dad's handwriting or that of my brothers. It always seemed like something I could have anytime. These things do not seem important or valuable until, like most things, you can't get them anymore. For all my writing and talking about it I am as guilty as anyone else. I am writing in those notebooks of mine for a selfish reason, I don't want my words lost. I feel a tinge of guilt every now and again when I am doing that. I placate myself but saying one day someone will be grateful that I did. Is it an illusion ? It doesn't matter whether it is or not. I do think it safe to say old books and papers are far more interesting than old computers or I-phones. There will be a day when someone will have to comb through my old papers and books. hopefully they will anyway, and decide what to keep and what to just trash. I wonder what just will be filed away of my life.
Some time back I began to copy selected blogs I have written into a notebook. I'm making a " hard " copy for future generations. I've already lost some of my writings and ramblings on old hard drives that have crashed. I was able to recover some and others are lost forever. These writings have no great historical significance or are of any great redeeming value but that is not the point. The point is they are lost. That isn't to say that things in the past weren't lost or destroyed. The Library at Alexandria is one huge example. No one knows what may have been lost there, Various governments have burned and destroyed books. Thing is, in almost all cases something remained, a sole survivor was treasured somewhere. We have learned much from old correspondence. What started out as personal exchanges were then saved and later provided historical reference. Consider the letters home from men off in battle somewhere. What of the seafarers and travelers that have written journals. All these things are valuable. And all of these are the words of the common man.
I do wonder what will remain fifty years from now. Will you have cards and letters saved ? My Mom does and they are seldom seen, but they are there. Old letters saved. I believe a good portion of us still exchange greeting cards, that business is not in any immediate jeopardy. How many of us save them ? I usually do not, I admit to that and can't really say why. I keep them around for a good while but almost always throw them out, reluctantly. Perhaps I should start to save them, put them in a central location. Would they be of interest to anyone else ? That is something I will have to give thought to. There is something very personal about a person's handwritten card or notes. Even when those same cards and notes say little they are that way, just a signature is personal. I think it may be because that person took the time to do that. Now we can do that a lot more quickly but it is losing it's personality. All type pretty much looks the same. Yes I know you can change the " font ". But a handwritten piece can be identified by that writing alone, if you are familiar with the person doing the writing. I can tell who sent the letter by the handwriting on the envelope. Very difficult to accomplish that with a text message !
It is these words of the common man that I think about being lost. I have very few of these words myself. I have no example of my Dad's handwriting or that of my brothers. It always seemed like something I could have anytime. These things do not seem important or valuable until, like most things, you can't get them anymore. For all my writing and talking about it I am as guilty as anyone else. I am writing in those notebooks of mine for a selfish reason, I don't want my words lost. I feel a tinge of guilt every now and again when I am doing that. I placate myself but saying one day someone will be grateful that I did. Is it an illusion ? It doesn't matter whether it is or not. I do think it safe to say old books and papers are far more interesting than old computers or I-phones. There will be a day when someone will have to comb through my old papers and books. hopefully they will anyway, and decide what to keep and what to just trash. I wonder what just will be filed away of my life.
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