I spent the day addressing and mailing thank-you letters for a local theater’s annual campaign. I was stunned the first time I saw something like this, but when you give money to a (proper) small theater, they send you a typed acknowledgment of your contribution, signed by several major members of the staff, with a personal note at the bottom. Yes, they care that much. Yes, they need it that badly. When you imagine hundreds of small $20 donations, that’s a lot of little notes for two people to write.

I was amused to see that one of them had resorted to just drawing a heart and putting an exclamation point next to it – I’ll have to do that the next time I’m enthusiastic but running out of penmanship.