TOW #18: The Lost Art of the Condolence Letter by Saul Austerlize (Article)

     Goodbye is one of the hardest words to say. The word goodbye can have many meanings that vary from a 'see you later' to 'until we meet again' to 'goodbye forever'. No one ever hopes that their goodbye is forever; but under some circumstances they are. After a death of a loved one or friend, goodbye is that last thing you wanted to say. In his article "The Lost Art of the Condolence Letter", Saul Austerlize writes about how condolence letters are becoming less and less common but should be required. At the beginning of his piece, Austerlize mentions a few losses he has been forced to deal with over the past few months.  He continues by addressing the condolence letter and explains his idea of what the true purpose of this letter is.  A condolence letter may be sent to love ones of the desisted but, as Austerlize states, a condolence letter is his way of “preserv[ing] something ephemeral, endangered. Emotions were pinned to the page like rare butterflies, no longer flapping around indiscriminately, glimpsed only as they fluttered off, but preserved for future study”.

         Austerlize intention of writing this article is to show his readers the true importance of a condolence letter; it is, in a way, a final goodbye. He uses his own personal experiences of writing condolence letters to show his readers his connections to the letters and why he finds them important.

         Rhetorical questions are another element used by Austerlize to support his purpose. During the process of writing a condolence letter after the loss of one of his close friends, he questions,  “How do you summarize a life? A friendship? What words can do justice to the entirety of a person?” These questions help Austerlize tweeze out the memories and transfer his final thoughts to paper.

         Austerlize states how “the letter is a lost art” that has been taken over by email and social media. But the words of a letter will last forever. The article made me understand the true importance of a condolence letter, not only for the dead but also for ones self. The letter is a way to say goodbye.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/the-lost-art-of-the-condolence-letter/?_php=true&_type=blogs&ref=opinion&_r=0