Community Column: Making the mailbox meaningful

How many people remember racing to the mailbox as a kid to retrieve the daily delivery of mail?

My younger sister, Sheri, and I would happily trample each other in our quest to be the first to grab the mail in the hope that something good was waiting for us. I must admit I was not beyond using her ponytail as a slingshot to pull ahead if she had a slight lead to the end of our driveway where the mailbox resided.

These also were the days when phone calls from Oglesby to La Salle were long-distance. Our mother had explicit directions that we were not to make any long-distance calls unless it was an emergency or permission was granted. Even then, it had to be a quick call. Thus, mail was a way of life.

In those days – for me that would have been the late 1970s through the early 1990s – the mail always seemed to bring something special; whether it was a toy claimed from cereal box tops, the purchase of X-ray glasses from an ad clipped out of an Archie comic book, birthday cards from Grandma or correspondence from that special someone whose handwriting made your heart skip a beat. The waiting heightened the anticipation for the mailman to arrive.

I have a large tote bin in my garage that is loaded with many letters and cards I saved over the years. Occasionally, I pull up a chair next to that tote and grab some random letters and spend an hour or so rereading them. Inevitably, I find myself either laughing about something I haven’t thought about in years or crying because the writer of the letter I’m holding is no longer with us … and all I have left is the memory.

With the advent of email, texting, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and the array of other digital vehicles of communication, what memories will current, and future generations have stored in their garage tote bins? How will we capture our stories of today and access them years from now? I cannot imagine future historians gaining access to someone’s email to understand a past generation’s life experiences. Think about the thousands of text messages we send each year that in a past generation would have been written on paper, placed in an envelope with a stamp and dropped in a mailbox.

I have a solution. It is one to which I have been committed for several years. It is one that I am committed to making converts – one person at a time. It is making the mailbox meaningful again. It is time to replace the regular junk we get in the mail with personal notes, heartfelt letters, notes of apology, cards of congratulations and clippings of good news from the newspaper.

Those who know me know I have a thing for manual typewriters. Yes – you can still get ribbons for them! I have written and mailed at least two thousand letters in the 13 years I have served as superintendent of L-P High School. These include good job letters for our students and staff. In addition to phone calls to family and friends, I have taken to typing longer letters to them. Most do not write back. To be quite honest, I am OK with that. I have no expectation for a reply. What brings meaning to me is mailing them something permanent that I created which expresses my feelings or simply updates them on what my kids have been up to.

My wish to those reading this is to stop at your local supply store, pick out some stationery and envelopes that reflect your personality, swing by the post office and buy a packet of stamps and commit to writing at least three letters a week. Buy a good pen or even better, find an old manual typewriter. Write a co-worker a thank you note for something they did; surprise your spouse with a note of appreciation; or write your mother. Most important, drop it off at the post office and do your part to make the mailbox meaningful!

Steven Wrobleski, superintendent at La Salle-Peru High School, is one of the NewsTribune’s community columnists. The NewsTribune has invited leaders to write about their organizations, to give insight into the community and further educate readers about happenings within their groups. If you are interested in sharing information about your community organization, contact dbarichello@shawmedia.com.