TTPost tries to give dying art letter-writing a boost

The art has become one that has almost been memoralised in movies and other artforms as a thing of yesteryear. But if the Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation (TTPost) has its way the art of letter writing would become a popular means of communicating once again .

The corporation held its awards for its 2015 National Letter Writing Competition Prize-Giving Ceremony last Friday at Regent Star Hotel, 118- 119 BWIA Boulevard, Piarco .

The competition saw more than 200 entries from the nation’s secondary school children, with Arielle Edwards of Bishop’s Anstey High School East copping first place, Aruna Ragoonath of St Stephen’s College, Princes Town receiving second place and Geeta Sookdeo of ASJA Girls’ College, Charlieville receiving third place .

The corporation’s managing director, Reynold Baldeosingh; District Inspector of Schools, Ministry of Education, Sumintra Ramnarinesingh and Ag Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Utilities, Vashti Shrikrisen Singh-Jitman delivered the feature address on behalf of recently installed Minister of Public Utilities, Ancil Antoine .

In the address, Singh-Jitman said the art of letter-writing enabled people to communicate effectively .

“There was a time, not so long ago (and I might be showing my age here) when letters were our main means of communication across long distances. True, there was the occasional phone call but the cost was prohibitive .

Besides, a letter unlike a phone call, allowed us the time and space to sit down and properly construct our thoughts. And the practice of letter-writing developed our capacity to organise our ideas in a logical and precise manner. In other words, we learnt how to communicate,” Singh-Jitman said .

Modern forms of electronic communication, she said, such as text messages did not allow for mystery and the expectancy of receiving mail was lost .

“Today’s technology allows us to communicate across continents in real-time .

We use Skype or other video calling applications and we can see and speak to the other person almost as if they were right there in front of us. As desirable as those developments are, they reflect our society’s obsession with instant gratification. We no longer take the time to slow down and reflect, something that letter- writing forces us to do. And so, we forget how to live mindfully, how to think things through before speaking or acting .

The result is that our teenagers put things up on Facebook or post `tweets’ that they will later regret,” she said .