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I returned from a
trip today to find an interesting email from Naman Crowe whom I renamed
"New Moon" many moons ago. I am not sure
about all the reasons I like New Moon. He ran against me in 1986 but I
had liked him so well so long that I never could feel bad toward him. He
just saw some things differently and anyone who knows Naman knows he is
going to have his say. I had praised him
for a personal letter he sent me that was full of great meaning to me. I
shared with him my thought that some of our best writing is done in
personal letters and wondered aloud why this is true. He gave me his
slant on it. He said, "I
have always considered it a great opportunity, through a letter, to be
right there in the presence of the person I was writing. I gave them
myself but it seemed they never gave me themselves. I decided they just
never thought of letter writing in the same way I did ....... (A letter)
forces a person to think through and look closer at his own mind in
search of true self ... In the end it may be that a letter is as much a
letter to one's self as it is to the one it is addressed to." A letter from a
cherished friend is more likely to be completely honest and authentic
than one that begins, "Dear boxholder" or even "Dear Mr.
Roberts." We seem to be more open and spiritually naked with those
we love and trust. So letter writing
can be a search for authenticity about life and about one's own self.
Come to think of it, we are all desperately hungry for authenticity. We
cannot really love anyone until we feel they are being honest and real
with us. The very moment we realize someone is not being authentic with
us, we move into an entirely different relationship with them. Real love
and friendship is gone. Once I wrote a
column on the ministry of letter writing. I described the world of good
my mother did in her life by writing people simple letters from her
heart. She asked me to continue writing one person she had written for a
half century. I still write that person and it is so fulfilling to carry
on my mother's lifelong ministry. If you are
seeking a wonderful way to serve God and people, write letters. The only
requirement is to be honest and real. Come from the heart. Sharing yourself
freely and genuinely, you will learn more about yourself than you could
through psychotherapy. And there's no way to do anything more
important for others. Dalton's website
is www.daltonroberts.com
and his writings are gathered at www.ipsfeatures.com. |
