Anna, my 10-year-old daughter, is on a wild ride with the United States Postal Service (USPS) and our mail carrier, Eason. She has a serious letter-writing habit and keeps in contact with her favorite people. If you've been the receiver of her hand-decorated letters and envelopes, then I know they really make your day.
A letter from Anna is likely to include some art, a joke and enough questions to guarantee a response. But when she wrote a letter to Eason, she put something new in it. "You may know me as the person living here that writes lots of letters. You're very important to me, helping me stay in touch with friends. I cheer people up with my letters, and you do that too!" Anna wrote.
The next day, a package arrived with two letters. One was from Eason and the other from his superior, Sara, saying she had shared Anna's letter in the internal newsletter (内部通讯) of the USPS and believed many postal folks wanted to thank Anna. Anna was so pleased with the letter that itperturbedme much, for the possible result of no reply from other mail carriers would come as a blow to her.
Surprisingly, today, we saw Eason come with two boxes of letters from around the country. These letters were so human, filled with stories about family, pets and a sense of kindness. But there was something more in them. People felt seen — some for the first time in a long time. "I work alone in a small rural post office..." "Not many people think about how hard we work..." Anna wrote back seriously.
I'm sharing this not because I'm a proud dad, but because it's relatively easy, if we take the time to give others links they need to be good. We all want to be seen, known and loved. Send a letter. Give a call. Take a step of bravery, like Anna.
