BYTE MARKS
Web site shares letters that never got sent
By Burt Lum
Putting your heart on the line is a practice some people may think is best done in private communications. But others evidently find a benefit in sharing.
Matters of the heart can be deeply personal, yet as social creatures we are compelled to express these feelings. We intimate our thoughts to close confidants, or post them on the Internet for all to see.
It's no surprise this form of communication has made its way to Web logs and online journals. One site dedicated to letters of love and closure is www.sothere.com.
Unlike blogs, which are for the most part reflect the author's musings, Sothere.com is committed to a theme: closure.
All too often, things that need to get said never do get said.
This could be the love letter that never gets sent.
It could be the post-breakup letter, the "I hate you" letter or the "I'm sorry" letter.
On Sothere.com, these letters of closure are posted for the rest of us to view.
While reading through the site, I was taken by letters to loved ones who have passed on. We often take for granted the ones we love. We never think to say or express our feelings, and in an instant our loved ones are gone.
Although a site like Sothere .com is not a substitute for saying the right thing at the right time, it is a place of closure.
It is psychologically beneficial to bring closure to unfinished business. Sothere.com offers a place where the healing can begin.
As much as it is a release for the writer, the site tugs at our voyeuristic instinct.
That is not necessarily a bad thing, considering the whole movie industry was built on our desire to watch.
We love other people's stories. Sothere.com satisfies the reader by providing glimpses into the lives of others.
Sothere.com has been publishing letters since 1998, one every day. Unlike sites with lots of graphics and images, it relies completely on the written word.
The beauty and sensitivity is contained in the feelings.
Reach Burt Lum at www.brouhaha.net.
