I was reading a book the other day, where one of the protagonists has some sort of obsession with handwriting. Of course, this obsession with handwriting was a convenient avenue for plot development, but besides that, I found it a rather intriguing thought. I admit I'm one of those people who find sentimental value in things, oftentimes giving others the impression that I never throw anything away. Wrong! I throw away that which doesn't mean anything to me. But, like this sap I was reading about a few days ago, I keep a box of handwritten articles because to me, they are more than just words. They are the thoughts, the feelings, the memories of those people who wrote them, and I find it a privilege that they chose to share them with me.

In a world where technology reigns, where it is easier and faster to use a machine to express yourself (as, ironically, I am doing now) the act of writing something down is expression in one of its purest forms. Your handwriting is thus your own, irreproducible stamp, something no one else can recreate with their own hand, just as you cannot recreate theirs. Perhaps there is something comforting in the thought that in our society, where it is so easy to look and to act like everyone else, something as simple as your own handwriting can provide some sort of  a marker of identity, of being the only one of its kind in the world. Handwriting adds authenticity, conviction to words. What are left of words without the life in them? They cease to be meaningful, but remain only as empty vessels. Think about every letter, every postcard, every birthday card, every hasty note ever written to you. What would they be if they were all in Times New Roman? How much character would they have left? A lot less than if they were in someone's chicken scratches, or neat print, or haphazard scrawl.

So even if I don't talk to that person anymore, or if I happen to see them everyday, I still keep those little bits of paper, those hints of personality. But always, they stay as reminders of my connection to other people in this world.