By David J. Hudson
I can recall many years ago going into stores and seeing the variety of different post cards with pictures of different cities, locations, monuments, buildings, etc. and how good it felt to purchase one and send it to a friend, loved one or family member, letting them know of the location that you were sending it from with just enough space on the card to say a few words and mail it off with a quick stamp; a moment that allowed us all to give a personal touch, show appreciation or just to say “Hey, I’m thinking of you,” to that special person in our lives. As we all know, life is a continuous motion of moving forward but it doesn’t mean we have to cease embracing memorable things that are hearth felt and loving such as sending a beautiful postcard to a loved one.
As we all know, the United States Postal Service has been dealing with financial issues putting it on the verge of closing hundreds or maybe thousands of post offices around the country along with maybe curtailing mail service to exclude delivery on Saturday. It would seem that millions of Americans have come to realize the important role the postal service plays in our lives and that some things shouldn’t be changed or politicized for the purpose of destroying unions or rural communities to the benefit of corporate profits for those who stand to benefit from a privatized or completely abolished postal service.
If you haven’t heard, in 2006, a congress controlled by Republicans passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which would require the Postal Service to prepay the healthcare benefits of retirees 75 years in advance over a 10 year period. In the same year the law was enacted, the postal service was doing just fine with record volume. The reason this was done was simply a political move to destroy the postal service and allow private companies like Fed Ex, UPS and others to increase their profits while destroying the lives of thousands of workers and millions of customers who benefit from the services of the postal service. Simply put, it is cheaper utilizing the services of the post office than that of private companies and we should all be made aware of this and not because it’s cheaper but because the service provided by the postal service is good and the right thing would be to preserve this legacy for future generations.
With the advancement of technology, that continues to serve us well, it is quite beautiful to be able to embrace and enjoy the new, but we can also hold on to time tested values and concepts like our postal delivery systems and the wonderful service it provides.
When was the last time you sent someone a postcard?
