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It took me at least a morning to wade through all of these E-mail messages. When I was done, I was struck not just by the content of the messages but also by the evidence of how much things had changed. Five years ago, I didn't have E-mail and didn't understand how it worked. Now it is an indispensable tool in my work.
I am grateful for the communications tools that are now available to us. E-mail increases our efficiency remarkably. Articles, news releases and letters to the editor arrive quickly and do not need to be typeset, only edited and proofread. An article can be typeset in Winnipeg, proofread and corrected in Abbotsford and sent back to Winnipeg, all in one day.
Letter writing has also been revolutionized. It is much quicker to sit down at the computer, type a letter, press a few buttons and know that the letter will arrive almost instantaneously, at no charge (assuming that I already have a computer and have paid my monthly E-mail account). I don't have to worry about formal letterhead, an envelope, a stamp or a post office. I can send a letter to Lithuania this morning, get a response at noon and send a follow-up letter before supper.
Well, I can. I have found that instantaneous communications systems do not guarantee instantaneous communication. There was a tendency, when I first got E-mail, to answer E-mail letters the same day I received them. (In fact, many E-mail letter writers seem to expect this.) No more. E-mail messages now are filtered through the same priority grid as regular letters and submissions. I must confess that an E-mail message can sit unanswered on my desk for weeks just as a regular letter can. Instantaneous communication does not seem to have made me less busy, but in fact more busy, and like all editors I struggle to keep up. I have also discovered that some of my "instantaneous" E-mail messages to others have sat unread for months because the recipient hasn't gotten around to looking in his E-mail box.
It has also struck me that E-mail has changed not just the way we send letters but also the way we write them.
In elementary school, I learned how to write a business letter. You started with your own address, the date and the recipient's address. Now all of these are supplied automatically by the computer E-mail program--except that the E-mail address "jsmith@internet.com" seems to tell me a lot less than "1201-356 Yonge St., Toronto, Ont."
I have observed that E-mail letters are also far less formal. Grammar, paragraph structure and even spelling seem to matter less. The letter writer often dashes off his letter and sends it immediately without rereading. Frequently he or she includes weird symbols such as :-) (a smiling face on its side, which means that the previous statement was said in jest).
I also learned in school that business letters should start with "Dear Sir" or "Dear Madam" and end with "Yours truly". E-mail letters either don't have openings or closings at all, or simply open with "Jim" and end with "John". I must confess that on the whole I prefer the more personal, less formal and more real E-mail style. I used to hate the "Dear Sir" or "Dear Madam" opening because often I was not sure whether my letter to the Canadian Widget Co. would be read by a man or a woman.
Like the "Dear Sir" opening, the "Yours truly" closing is a leftover from the courtly ways of the European nobility (who were about the only people writing letters centuries ago, I guess). Their flowery letters would begin "My dear Sir Charles" and end "Your most humble and obedient servant" (since shortened to "Yours truly"). While this seems a far more polite way of writing, it was generally an empty formality. The "dear" people at the other end were often despised, and these courtly nobles generally had no intention of being anyone's servant, humble and obedient or otherwise. I myself have often wondered at the incongruity of a letter that begins, "Dear Editor, you are an idiot." The formal form of the letter never seemed to be a guarantee of gracious content.
No. I am a believer in love, respect, gentleness and kindness. But give me truth and reality over empty formality any day.
That's all for now. I have to go check my E-mail.
It's nothing but power politics was the answer.
My friend and his wife were shocked. They wondered where their children had picked up a view of the MB conference that was so different from their own. Then they stopped and thought about the things that they themselves had been saying during the long ride home. They soon realized where their teens had picked up such a negative view of the MB conference.
Mennonite Brethren churches and conferences have their share of problems. Decisions are sometimes tainted by sin and foolishness. We sometimes become frustrated when church or conference fails to live up to our own high expectations. Yet, before we speak, we need to stop and think. Is what we are about to say really true? Is it fair? Are we trying to hold our churches and conferences to a higher standard than we are willing to meet ourselves? Are our attitudes more characterized by criticism than by love?
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