Essay: Don't Write Any Letters

Letter writing, while a sign of civilization, is also a high-risk occupation, and it is a wonder that anybody does it. To be sure, there are those who cannot help themselves—teen-age girls, for example, or the members of the National Rifle Association (who all write the same letter), or the people with urgent messages for public figures, which are usually written in green ink on triangular Kleenex. These are the extreme compulsives. But there are many calmer citizens, as well, who cannot bear to leave the stationery stationary, and thus get themselves into...

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