"So Let It Be Written..."

I don't get much real mail. Most people don't, I suppose, but perhaps I get even less than the average. Certainly each of my two roommates receive more real mail than I do. I should say that I define "real mail" not merely as something that is desirable, but something that was written (or at least typed) by a person and which is definitely hand-addressed. It's exceptionally rare that I get anything which meets that description.

I did recently, or at least I very nearly did. I was astonished to extract from the mailbox something which appeared to be hand addressed. I examined it carefully, having in the past received mass-mailed envelopes which purport to be hand addressed but which are in fact faked. This was the real deal, this one that I received the other day. It bore a name and return address that I did not recognize, and my curiosity was aroused.

Flipping it to the back revealed its true nature. It was a campaign mailing from some obscure candidate for mayor here in Los Angeles, and had a sticker there on the back saying so. I was disappointed, but not angry. How could I get angry at someone who had actually gone to trouble like that? This candidate can't have addressed a bunch of letters like that, but the idea that even a staff of volunteers did was impressive to me.

If I had been mad, I would have thrown out the letter unopened as I regularly do. I don't so much as look at any of those campaign mailings once I have so identified them, but this one was different. I was interested enough to open it and look at the typed message inside, and even interested enough to bring it upstairs for further study. I'm not going to say that the mailing could have really made me interesting in voting for this guy, but I admire the effort anyway.