This Valentine's Day Send an Original Handwritten Note to a Loved One - Tips for Getting Started at LoveAndForgive.org

The Fetzer Institute, architect of the national Campaign for Love & Forgiveness, seeks to revive the art of written communication as a thoughtful practice capable of making a difference to friends, family and even communities.

Kalamazoo, Mich. (PRWEB) February 8, 2007 -- If you're looking for a special way to communicate your love this Valentine's Day, consider bypassing the standard greeting card and instead try writing a simple, original Valentine from the heart.

For tips on how to start your Valentine, check out the campaign's letter-writing initiative at www.loveandforgive.org then write your own message of love.

The Fetzer Institute, architect of the national Campaign for Love & Forgiveness, seeks to revive the art of written communication as a thoughtful practice capable of making a difference to friends, family and even communities. Mickey Olivanti, Fetzer's program officer directing the campaign, explains, "Our hope is that through writing--whether it's a short Valentine's note, a heart-felt letter or writings in a private journal--people will experience firsthand the power of love and forgiveness."

In San Francisco, Ca., high school teacher Ellen Greenblatt put this theory to the test. In preparation for a family memoir project, she asked her tenth-grade students to submit original letters expressing their love to someone important in their lives. In this age of technology, where text messaging "i < 3 u" is probably more common for teens than picking up pen and paper, the classroom exercise demonstrated the value of committing words to paper. Some students wrote their parents; others chose their grandparents or friends. Yet at the heart of each communication was true emotion--something that is often brushed aside in today's harried lifestyle. "We often invite students to write analytically. But, with this assignment, I specifically instructed them to write from their hearts," Greenblatt says. "Their genuine love for their relatives and friends shines in these pieces, and I have urged them to recopy them and give them as Valentines."

For example, one student wrote to his father: "We don't talk a lot. We don't fill up our time with chatter and gossip. A lot of time we don't have a lot to say. But, recently, in our mutual silence, I have found more comfort and love than I would have found in a million words.
I would like to tell you how much I appreciate your powerful love and compassion that you emanate and how much comfort and stillness I have found in it. When we go on little walks with our dog or when we sit together and work by the fire, I feel the wordlessness saturated. I don't have to blab to you to feel and bask in your love. Because we don't always relate in evident ways because of our varied interests, I find that in silence we become father and son, purely."

Another student wrote to his mother: "While you might think that your perpetual acts of kindness go unnoticed, I mean to assure you that they are observed and appreciated with the warmest of hearts. I decided to take some time to display how much I appreciate all of the seemingly small, yet significant acts that you perform on a daily basis. This fall was a busy time for our family, but it took the heaviest toll on you. Yet even through all of the different problems you had to deal with, you spent every Sunday schlepping me to and from baseball. Between the two hours of driving and the three to four hours of baseball, it took up our entire day. It was so amazing, Mom, and I only hope that some day I can do the same type of things for you."

Lilia Fallgatter, author of The Most Important Letter You Will Ever Write, believes "telling someone 'I love you' is not enough to communicate what a person truly means to you," she says. "The best way to communicate your feelings to loved ones is by writing," she adds. "Good words are worth much and cost so very little. They can even help re-establish or strengthen bonds."

Visitors to www.loveandforgive.org will also find resources for conducting conversations on the topics of love and forgiveness, information about local community events, and audio stories provided by StoryCorp, a national project inspiring people to record each others' stories in sound. The Campaign for Love & Forgiveness is a project of The Fetzer Institute (www.fetzer.org). Partners include six public broadcasting stations, Paper Source and Gather.comTM.

The Fetzer Institute's mission, to foster awareness of the power of love and forgiveness, rests on its conviction that efforts to address the critical issues facing the world must go beyond political, social, and economic strategies to their psychological and spiritual roots. The Institute works with global leaders, other organizations, and individuals to bring the power of love and forgiveness to the center of individual, community, and organizational life.

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