Never underestimate an intimate gesture. How often in your life has it been something seemingly small that has had the most powerful emotional impact? We all have our own stories. The hand on your shoulder when you needed a human touch; the letter that expressed what matters most at just the right moment; the invitation to a family gathering when you were feeling despondent and alone. And I’d add the postcard that turns up in the mail and simply says “I was thinking of you”. In today’s digital world of email and texting there are a lot of ways we can connect with friends and family, but the traditional postcard seems to be holding its own and indeed experiencing something of a revival.
If you want a great example of all this, get hold of a copy of Postcards from the Boys by Ringo Starr, who collected over 100 postcards sent to him by John, Paul and George over the years. In this collection of 53 cards there is one from John in Japan meeting Yoko’s parents, and rather poignantly from Hollywood, with the message, “Who would have thought it would come to this? Love John.”
In a world of dumb mass mail-outs, there is a lot to be learnt from the postcard. And I mean more than putting some fake ‘personalized’ Post-it note on the top of an article. Intimacy is something you can’t fake. People take it personally or they don’t. There’s no half-way house. You have to reach out and trust your intuition about what will be welcome.
