Letter Correspondence, What Impact Does It Have?

I Will Always Write Back 

I am reading the book ‘I will Always write back’. I haven't finished it yet*, but I can already say that the correspondence between the two protagonists in the book has a major impact on their lives. It changes their view of the world and opens their eyes to a completely different world. I wonder if social media, television and the internet have the same impact. Letter writing is nevertheless more personal and leaves room for the imagination when reading what is written. It's a shame I don't do it anymore.

Very Different Lives, Same Age, Different Country

In my youth, after I moved back to Curaçao, I corresponded for a while with my former primary school classmates in The Netherlands. What became clear to me then was that their life was very different from mine on Curaçao. It always made me long to continue my school days in The Netherlands. I wonder whether they also got a different youth image from their own youth and of my life on Curaçao from the letters. I no longer have contact with them. So I can't ask them, but my curiosity grew with reading this book. I won't ask them, because I don't need to know the answer.

Plan Child

Another thing that came to my mind while reading this book was when I started out as a student in The Netherlands. I wanted to do two actions. I started both during the first year in The Netherlands, namely:

• Become an organ donor 

• And have a Plan Child--> For three years I supported a foster kid through Plan. There was also correspondence with the kid. Also a very different world from mine. I stopped when Plan changed my child for another one, three times in 1 year and I was no longer allowed to choose a region where the child lived.

A Glimpse Into Another Life

Both gave me a glimpse into another life. One I wanted to have in my youth and another I couldn't imagine. In retrospect, I wouldn't want to have that Dutch youth either, then I wouldn't have been given the outdoor life of Curaçao. I wouldn't want to have missed those correspondences for nothing. They have enriched my life with a glimpse into another life, even if it is a small insight into what the writer wanted to share with me.

*I read the whole book 'I will always write back' and revised this blog after finishing the book.