Some enterprising individual made December 7th Letter Writing Day to help combat the loss of letter writing skills due to the rise of texting, social media and the horde of instant messaging apps.
Writing a letter can take so many forms, but because I’m a political commentator I’ll use this unofficial day primarily to encourage you to write to the politician of your choice, either federal or provincial.
I’ll leave the topic up to you.
All I ask is you take 30 minutes out of your day today to write and send a letter to a politician about an issue that concerns you.
We have a ton of issues to discuss with the men and women we mere citizens elect to represent our interests in the hallowed halls of government.
Here are a few topic suggestions if you can’t think of what you would write about:
- Canada’s decision to ban legally-owned firearms from licensed, RCMP-vetted gun owners while leaving illegal guns in the hands of career criminals, drug dealers and gang members
- the continued ethical challenges of Liberal MPs, including Yasmin Ratansi
- Demand Justin Trudeau defend free speech, not his beloved “approved speech”
- Demand provinces adhere to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and stop trying to prohibit worship services.
That’s just a few ideas torn from recent headlines. I’m sure you’ll find a ton more ideas in your inbox.
All I ask is that you leave the word “Letter Written” in the comments section to let me know who is participating in this exercise of political action and mental health.
If the Mere Thought of Writing a Politician Sickens You
Should the thought of writing a letter to a politician fill you with dread, apathy or simply make you vomit a little in your own mouth, may I suggest something else – something far more likely to make your day as well as that of your recipient.
Write a letter of gratitude to someone who you admire, someone whose actions inspired you or brought you to tears, someone who you simply can’t live without.
People on my gratitude list this week are:
- My wife
- My pastor and church deacons
- My grandsons and their parents
- Dennis Young, a friend as well as Canada’s leading firearm researcher
- Darius Sam (who is recovering from his 100 mile Run Against Addiction on Saturday)
- Niagara Regional Police Det. Sgt. Shane Donovan
- Friends who will remain anonymous
Make a list of the people you are grateful for, then write them a letter expressing why you are grateful for their presence in your life.
In the midst of the ongoing COVIDiocy running rampant across our nation, this may be the single, most important thing you do for your mental health today.
Letter written. In my case, the letter was to a former work colleague who has integrity, takes personal responsibility and has the same reverence for peaceful, unfettered existence as I.
The heartfelt letter(s) to those for whom you feel gratitude should be a first priority. All of us, particularly now, desperately need to focus our attention on the positive and those who “aid and abet” in elevating hope, sanity and common sense in these never-seen-before troubling times.
Tearing a “second arsehole” in a virtue-signaling politician or bureaucrat whom you despise is a somewhat satisfying but mostly futile effort. You and I and every other peasant don’t have the financial “persuasion” capabilities to alter the soulless, avaricious loyalties of useful idiots. Useful idiots who relentlessly attempt to alter primal human behaviour. Take personal responsibility in your own welfare and those you love, regardless of the threat. The Government is not your “safety net”. You are.
Very nice, Arie. Gratitude letters are definitely better for my mental health than those to politicians. While the latter may get the garbage out, the former make two people’s day… mine and the recipient’s… so that’s where I want to focus my efforts.
Great idea Chris. There is only one problem. POLITICIANS DO NOT READ LETTERS FROM THE PROLES.
I recall back in 1998 when C-68 was about to pass that the halls of government were plugged with mountains of bags of mail from irate law abiding citizens. Not a single letter was ever read. And if you remember, it finally passed by one vote that was allegedly bribed from a certain ‘opposition’ member. Personally I have written somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 letters to politicians. The ONLY response ever was one from Stockwell Day, but he didn’t write it. His staff did. I had marked ‘personal and confidential’ and all the reply said was ‘I have forwarded it to the RCMP to address your concerns.’ How sweet of him. So I forwarded it to Harper expressing now two concerns. I had campaigned for Harper. Again, ZERO response.
But it is a good exercise to keep up your writing skills and occupy some time during the ever increasing ‘WuFlu lock downs’ politicians love. Generally it is not worth wasting a stamp to mail such except to Ottawa because then no postage is required!
Thanks Don. I don’t write letters to politicians for their benefit, I write them primarily for mine. Those letters have the added benefit of putting the recipient’s office that mere citizens are paying attention – not that they typically give a crap, as you so aptly noted.
The gratitude letters are a far better use of my time, to be sure.
Hello Don,
Yes I remember that sorry era of Liberal smugness and the reported torrent of mail in protests. regarding C-68.Those stacks of mail to all the Liberal MPs were mountainous [there must have been at least 100 from me to many MPs over the ensuing years]. So much so that the exasperated Liberal party Whip Don Boudria publicly threatened on TV and media to overturn the postage-free-mail-status of writing to MPs. This during an era before mobile/computer dominance.What an atrocious stab at democracy from this arrogant man.
Here is a picture of that smug politician. Such a dishonour to Canada.
https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/eppp-archive/100/205/300/liberal-ef/05-05-24/www.liberal.ca/[email protected]&id=35025
Christmas cards and postage stamps… I find that these past few years people have gotten lazy and no longer send off an old fashioned christmas card or birthday card to friends and relatives. Maybe cheap too where they don’t feel a need to slip in a 10 dollar bill to the niece or nephew. Just send off something found on their devices… ohh how cute and clever!
Somehow that insidious mobile rules their life and overrules dexterity-skills and defeats the small cognitive challenges of lifting a pen to paper.
I’m one of those who have long fallen out of the habit of sending Christmas cards, too. Time to remedy that. 🙂