Open Sesame

A lot of things that people do seem useless. I understand why they do them, and I even do them myself. Even so, I can see the probably futile or even counterproductive results of them in the making. One thing that has cropped up quite a bit lately is that passive-aggressive epistle, the open letter. It's a singularly impotent gesture, isn't it? I could see the purpose of writing and disseminating one if the intended recipient were actually unreachable. I myself penned one because there seemed no way of actually tracking down the one with whom I would have corresponded, so it seems that there is some purpose to it if done correctly.

Too often however, I see open letters to people who are eminently reachable, and it strikes me that the grievance being aired (and a grievance is always the object of such letters) just might get resolved if the letter were actually sent to the person being addressed and not to one's friends on a social networking website. As it is, people who care for the letter writer wonder in exasperation at their thinking. I know I do in any case. It really is a shame, and I think that technology may be partly at fault for beginning the trend of of making functional the person unable to confront.

In truth though, the open letter writer would do well to come up with a second draft of their heated missive, for it invariably can stand considerable modification. The chief drawback is usually its brevity. Now, it's true that being concise is usually to the benefit of such a thing, but when one writes a letter to a person without having to contain it within a status update, it affords the opportunity to be a bit more expansive than some hundred and forty characters, which I would call too brief.

Furthermore, the letter is almost always written in an emotional state. There is without question value in passion, but when it is not balanced by reason, what is left is frequently destructive. Terribly unkind things may be said, and whether or not one cares for the feelings of the recipient, there is practical reason to spare them if you hope to have your way. Of course, this is a personal preference, and I would not for anything deny someone else their right to send a nasty letter. They are just too much fun. Just be sure to have the courage of your convictions and send them if possible instead of posting them online.