You may never get another handwritten letter -- assuming that you've ever gotten one.

If you're forty or fifty or older, you've probably gotten some handwritten letters, likely from your mother or grandmother. If you're younger than that, you may never have gotten such a letter.

Why? You know why. Email. Voicemail. Text messaging.

Even the occasional phone call has become a thing of the past.

There was a time, not so long ago, when communicating with each other meant putting pen or pencil to paper and sending the result in an envelope to another person. And waiting, often days or weeks, for a reply. Maybe your whole life.

There is much to be gained from our new communication technologies -- speed, for sure -- but there is something lost, too. When someone sits down at the computer and types a response to your previous email, that person is not likely to go back and check what was written, not just for accuracy, etc., but for typing mistakes. You know that you get, as I do, emails from intelligent people that have howling mistakes in grammar and syntax. Maybe you just accept them and move on, but they are symptons of a larger problem.

As we get more computer-savvy, we often become less literate. We sound dumber in our emails than we do in longhand. And it's all because we're in a hurry.

When someone sends you a handwritten letter, that person has had to think about every word put down on the paper. It's a slow process but one that yields documents you want to keep and maybe even pass on to your children and grandchildren. Do you own any handwritten letters that you've saved and intend to bequeath to your descendents? Probably.

Do you you have any such emails? Probably not.

Surely you've gotten some important ones, but did you print them out? And, if you did, do you think they have anything of the person who sent them in those familiar typed letters? Is passing on a thoughtful email, printed out, the same as passing on a handwritten missive from that treasured person? You know the answer. Just look at your scrapbook.

I'm sure there are more mis-sent emails than there are mis-sent letters. Why?

Because the emails are too easy to send. You type them out and hit a button, and they're gone, winging their way through cyberspace. With a letter, you look over what you've written, maybe scratch out some comments, and then re-write it before sending. Writing by hand makes you slow down and think about what you're saying --and re-think it. An email is the first thing you think of and -- bling! -- it's out there. No calling it back.

So what should you do? Write someone a letter, obviously. Don't make a big deal of it: email is here to stay and is welcomed if it makes us all write more to each other. But take the time to pick up a pen or pencil and write someone you know something meaningful, in your own personal penmanship. Remember that word? It used to be part of your grade.

Do it today. Now. Before you get on your computer and type all that drivel and trivia to all those people you hardly know. All those "friends" you have on MySpace.

There are people in your life who would love a handwritten letter from you. Trust me on this.
Give someone something to keep, even to cherish. They'll be surprised and pleased, I promise.