Hand-writing is not dead!

Here is some reassuring news:  Pen still mightier than the tablet: Faber-Castell

MUNICH: Computers, tablets and smartphones have not yet managed to crowd out pens and pencils, says Faber-Castell, German maker of high-end writing instruments. The family-run group, famous for its forest-green pencils, says its production is still running at top speed thanks to rising levels of education in emerging markets on the one hand and demand for stylish writing tools in developed countries on the other. 

The personal computer, "when I was growing up" I tell my kids, was a hand-held calculator about the size of your IPhone. Typewriters with a correction key were the best as long as you had enough correction tape loaded - otherwise make sure you have plenty of White-out.

Now, in a time when I get writers' cramp from so much as signing a greetings card, hand-writing holds a certain degree of fascination.

My wife and I were browsing an antiques store in Warwick NY last year when a decrepit old wooden frame caught my eye on the wall.  It encased a dirty-brown piece of paper with tiny, but neatly-scrawled handwriting.  An index-card sign next to it said

Lafayette Letter

It was simple correspondence addressed to a Mr. Thorn, making arrangements for a visit to Lafayette at his residence, LaGrange, outside Paris.  It is dated July 1831, a period when Paris was a popular destination for American artists, writers, medical students, and the wealthy.  Lafayette was ever the hero to Americans, as evidenced by the throngs he attracted during his visit to the States in 1824 and right up until his death in 1834.  For these visitors to have been his guest would truly have been an honor.

So, I asked myself, what would they say about this on "Pawn Stars"?  Well, its condition is pretty bad - tears, creases, and water stains.  It has no historical significance; no mention of other prominent people, or politics - in which Lafayette continued to be active during this period.  It was written in English - a definite plus as far as value.  But anyone who wanted to display it would need to mount and frame it.  Overall, not a particularly valuable piece.

But to me . . . LAFAYETTE !  The man who was like a son to George Washington, a loyal monarchist who literally had to escape France at the age of 19 in order to join the colonists in taking up arms against another monarch.  So eloquent, and so inspired by the idea of personal liberty that he risked his own immense wealth - and eventually lost it - for the cause.  This great man touched this paper, held it, applied his wax seal to it (still visible) and addressed it.  And I could own it!

What's ironic is that I would have to pay to own a document, the subject of which would only merit a text message today.  Such thoughts of ours simply vanish into the ether. When you consider that a written language is what distinguishes the relative sophistication of ancient societies, we've come so far now as to actually write very little. Will there be much to know about us in future millennia, once all the bits & bytes evaporate from our hard drives?

Interesting that Faber-Castell is doing so well in "developing countries" because they are becoming increasingly educated, while for our "other half" of the world a writing instrument is something of a novelty - we want only "stylish" writing tools.  There's a metaphor in there somewhere for the disparities in our world.

And ironic too that I would pay to own a dirty old piece of paper, because on it was written the thoughts of a great man.