KPR CORNER...

In late December, a tattered, almost unreadable copy of the Magna Carta sold for $21 million. It was the most ever paid for one page of text. Why so much for a frayed piece of parchment when a photograph and the text of its contents can be instantly found online? The value is in the handwritten element of the document. The precise, beautiful cursive script of the document brings it to life with personality and forges a connection between the writer and the recipient. In a world that is more impersonal with each passing day, it is the connections to people and ideas that we crave.

It seems that handwriting and in particularly cursive writing is a casualty of technology. In schools the emphasis on improving standardized test scores leaves little time to teach cursive writing. As children advance in school, they begin to move toward typing notes and doing homework on laptops. Of the 1.5 million high-school students who took the SAT in 2006, only 15 percent used cursive on the essay portion, according to The College Board. Further analysis revealed that the essays written in cursive had a slightly higher average score than those written in block print. Might it be that the cursive further personalized the essay, connecting its reader to the writer and subconsciously influencing the grade?

Recently while cleaning, I ran across a bundle of letters and papers I had saved. Notes that my mother hand wrote to me and love letters my husband sent while I was away at college. These pen strokes on paper instantly connected me with myself as a young adult, my husband as the boyfriend, and my mother as the strong force propelling me toward success. As I carefully tucked them back into my drawer, I pondered today’s modern, computer driven correspondence. Would I have printed out emails from my mother and boyfriend? If I did, would I have saved them? Would my personal connection to perfect text on a white page have lasted through the years and been so strong?   

I have long loved the emotion brought about by flowing script on paper and have used it at every opportunity. From the day my teenage son was born, I have written notes to him in precise, elegant cursive tucked lovingly into his baby book. I realize now the impedance of this letter writing was my frequent travel, and an unspoken fear that there was always a slight possibility that I might regrettably not make it home. I wanted to make sure that he always had some piece of me, a beautiful, intimate, handwritten connection to the love I felt for him.

Every human strives for connections including the young. Each year as my daughter heads out to camp, I handwrite a letter for each day she is gone, packing them in her suitcase to find upon arrival. She carefully paces herself opening one letter each day. While she might mention something funny that I wrote, she never says much about the notes. And while she never specifically mentions their importance to her, I know; I found them tucked away neatly in her drawer to be read many years from now. I hope one day she will sit down and re-visit the connection between us and that it will bring a smile to her face.

I challenge the reader of these neatly typed characters shining brightly on your computer screen to use the written word to strengthen your connections to those who are important to you. Next time a friend has a birthday, buy a blank card and hand write a note outlining what makes them special. Having trouble getting a business contact to return a call or email? Try a handwritten note. It just might be what you need to make a connection with each other.

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