Dear Editor:
My mail carrier delivers to my door a steady stream of requests for money from charitable organizations, politicians and political parties. "Dear Friend" is how the letters usually start. In fact, the vast majority of the estimated 200 or so requests for money that I get in the mail each year start with that phrase. What's wrong with starting the letter "Dear Mark?" That's what my name is.
I was raised through childhood in the late 1940s and 1950s. I was taught that a "friend" is someone special, a friend is one who will do whatever he/she can to help you in a time of need. You, in turn, will do likewise; it's called a "friendship." A friend is someone you can call at 4 a.m. to ask for a ride to St. Louis to meet an airplane at 9 a.m. First they'll think, "Oh, God, no!" and then they'll say, "What time do you want me to pick you up?" That's a friend.
So when did begging a stranger for money to support a professional agenda become a "friend" request? Is this how cheap our culture has become? Don't we respect our own language enough to even recognize the true and precious meaning of "friend?" Is "friend" fast coming a watered-down mishmash of human relationship nothingness: And don't dare mention to me that you have 50 Facebook "friends," for I might explode into smithereens right before your very eyes!
No matter how much I favor your cause or your candidacy, if you start a request for money with "Dear Friend" you have just wasted your money and time putting that solicitation together and mailing it to me, not to mention my time wasted opening your request. My name is "Mark." Try "Dear Mark" or "Dear Common Concerned Citizen," anything but "Dear Friend." I am not your friend, I'm merely your target.
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