Hand Written Notes

There is something about a hand written letter or postcard that is timeless, that conveys more meaning and carries more weight than digital communications will ever achieve. Your handwriting, whether it is printing or cursive, is unique to you and it changes as you tell your story. It is affected by the time of day that your writing, the type of pen, the paper and writing surface. With electronic communications its all nearly perfect, each letter is identical and it’ll even correct your grammar and punctuation, for the most part. It’s efficient and legible, but it’s also cold and mundane.

Think of how many emails or texts you send in the course of a week…a month…a year? Now how many hand written letters have you sent by comparison? I’m willing to bet for most its less that the fingers on one hand. That alone makes them special.

That’s why if you receive one it feels so incredible, because it takes time to write a letter or postcard by hand. You have to actually think about your words, what you’re trying to convey, your spelling, and your punctuation. There is no back space, no Ctrl F7 or red highlighted text indicating an error. That sort of an effort takes time, taking that time to do something for someone shows that you are thinking about them and you care enough to set time aside for them.

The world needs more letter writers and postcard posters to show one another that we care for each other. That there are people in our lives that are willing to set aside, ten, twenty or thirty minutes and put pen to paper as a way to show not only are they thinking about you, but that they care enough to expose to you how bad their spelling actually is. My friend Timm Desroches and I do this with one another; we served together on the submarines and we have kept in touch over the years via text and messenger but also with the odd letter here and there, it’s great to get them see how genuine a person he is.

The cover photo for this story is a letter I wrote to my Grandparents, Bud and Helen Thomson, back in Aug 2003. I’d only been in the CAF for a few years and was lucky enough to get picked up to go to Kabul Afghanistan as part of Roto 0. I sent them several letters on the tour as I didn’t have a personal laptop and the farm was on dial-up so checking them was a time consuming affair. But like I mentioned above, if you write a letter it shows you genuinely care and I knew they appreciated getting them as they were both voracious writers as well.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say that my grandparents were about the best you could ever ask for. They were kind, funny, smart, caring, and always ready with a cup of tea, snack or funny story. I spent a great deal of my youth at their farm, where my brother and his family now live. My siblings and cousins played in their tree lane, did welding or built projects in the shop, or just spent hours on end watching VHS movies when it was either too hot or cold to go outside.

These letters and the one I wrote above all those years ago is part of the inspiration for a fundraiser I am going to be launching mid Dec, it’s going to be called OP POSTCARD.

The idea is to show our veterans, and serving CAF members, that there are people out there that care about them enough to put pen to paper, to take time out of their day to ask how they are doing and to ask if they’d be willing to share one of their stories. I hope that in doing so I can help connect and build bonds of understanding between Canadians and those who’ve served or are still serving.

To that effect I’ve ordered several hundred “Unbloused” branded postcards and pens and will be making “Penpal Packs” which will consist of 5 x postcards, 1 x pen and 1 x sticker, as well as some basic instructions and guidelines. People can then send them to their ex-military or serving friends or relatives or address it to the “Any Canadian Armed Forces Member” the address for which will be in the instructions.

I’ll have them available for sale on the website once they’re ready for shipping and 100% of the funds raised will be donated to Canadian Veteran Nonprofit organizations.

I’ll be asking that every time someone receives a letter or a postcard they post a picture of it on their social media using #unbloused #oppostcard as well as tagging the @unbloused1 Instagram account and telling a bit about the note, person and story they received or the type of story they were asked to share.

The more stories we share the greater the understanding we will build of what it is the men and women of the CAF have done and are doing for our country and those experiences will never be lost.

All the best,

John