Letters

A Weekly Online Publication of the Anonymous Anything Society — November 15, 2017

DEAR READER:

This is a letter.

Everything in it was inspired by an advertisement in the September 2017 Issue of the Atlantic Magazine. It took me over two months to write it, due to the immense amount of subject matter. My hope is that you will be inspired to do more than gloss over the titles below. If you will spend more than a minute opening your mind to the subject matter, then my two months will be well worth it to me, and to the writers for The Atlantic Magazine for recapitulating what we believe thinkers hope to find in an article.

A provocative statement is in an advertisement from micro-electronics giant Qualcomm, with which we can all agree. "Good thing the Qualcomm Technology in your phone saw this coming. The Qualcomm revolution didn't happen by accident. First, it took Qualcomm to create technology that enables your smartphone to do all those things you depend on every day; like putting breaking news into the palm of your hand.'"'

Directly across from this advertisement is a BIG QUESTION answered by readers of The Atlantic Magazine "What was the most important letter in history?" I thought some of the responses were dramatic—made especially so, since they were positioned directly ahead of the Qualcomm statement: "Why you love your cellphone." (I would like to think that this positioning was accidental—in fact, a sign of the times.)

HERE ARE FIVE OF THE NOMINEES by readers of The Atlantic Magazine:

"The Letters of Saint Paul."

"Groans of the Britons," A letter sent about 450 A.D. to Rome by ancient Britons asking for help in repelling invaders. When no help came, the Brits hired Germanic mercenaries, leading eventually to Germanic takeover of what became Great Britain and the beginning of what became the English language.

Winifried Gallagher's "How the Post Office Created America."

The letter sent by Albert Einstein to President Franklin Roosevelt in August of 1939, suggesting that an "Atomic Bomb" was going be built by Germany.

"Martin Luther King's, 'Letters From Birmingham Jail.'"

I hope to have another five more missives to recommend by January, 2018.

Phil Richardson, Observer of the Human Condition and Storyteller. "He goes doddering on into his old age, making a public nuisance of himself."—Joseph Menchen

Our unending thanks to Jim Bromley, who programs our Archive of Prior Commentaries

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