The Chain Letter

Does anyone remember Chain Letters?
I remember during my childhood, my parents were extremely supersticious. I never quite understood why they seemed to feed into some of the things they did, but, I was a part of a household of women who firmly beleived that certain things, you had to do, to have good karma. No walking under ladders, splitting poles, crossing a black cat's path, all that stuff was a part of my world, but the one I remember most is Chain Letters Although I was sent to church faithfully every Sunday and taught to beleive that God was good and I needed to trust in Him, no one else in my home attended. I always thought this strange, but back then, you just didn't question the actions of your elders. Chain letters were a big part of my life as a child and may have given my me love for writing beleive it or not. Back in the 70's chain letters were mailed to various homes. The letter contained information that basically stated, if you don't write and mail out 50 or 100 copies of this letter you will have bad luck and somebody in your family will die. However if you do mail out the appropriate number of copies, you will have good luck and be blessed with various financial blessings over the next 3 months. I remember being about 8yrs years old, when I sat down with my mother and aunt as they feverishly began hand writing copies of this letter to mail out to other families in our city. I thought it was a crock, but I dare not speak up or I would get a swift pop in the mouth. I simply picked up my pen and started copying the contents of the letter. I would sit in our breakfast nook for hours writing these letters, all the while fuming because there were other things a child my age should be doing. Like playing with candy wrappers, or scratching my mosquito bites. Anything but writing chain letters. Only thing good that seemed to come from it was I was allowed to sit and listen to some grown folks gossip, and that was always fun.

Here is a typical format of a chain letter:

Dear Recipient, You are recieving this letter as both a warning and and a blessing. Do not under any circumstances break this chain. Send 100 copies of this letter to family and friends so that we may continue to be blessed throughout our country and world. Sham Flam from, Decatur Ga recieved a letter back in June of 1973. He followed the direction and sent it to his friends and family. In August of that same year, he was on a fishing boat in Florida, and a storm arose. His boat capsized and sharks surrounded him. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the coast gaurd appeared and saved Sham's life. He would have surely been eaten alive by the sharks had it not been for the heroics of the coast guard. When Sham returned home, there was a check in his mailboxt for $43,275.00 He was astonished by his great fortune, and credits it all to not breaking this chain. Please be good to yourself and keep this chain going. In 1975, Molly McButter received a chain letter and left it on her coffee table for several weeks. While cleaning one day, she decided to disregard the contents after reading and tossed the letter in a pile of old mail. God forbid. Two months later Molly suffered a fatal stroke. She was 27 years old. Her mother found the chain letter and shared it with family and friends at Molly's funeral. This is imperative. Do not break the chain. All you have to do is write out by hand 100 copies of this letter and mail it to family and friends. If you don't have tht many people in your family, simply go to your local phone directory and share this chain with people from your communities. Thank you in advance for saving your own lives, and may blessing follow you where you go. Remember, your life and good fortune rests in the chain. Don't break it!


....There you have it, a standard chain letter. We have them on line now too, and I receiveed one only yesterday and this childhood memory surfaced. It still amazes me what we allow others to inflict upon us. I used to think the post office started these chains to keep people purchasing large amount of postage stamps, but my mother refused to beleive that when I suggested it was a farce. A fellow poet even started his own chain on line, telling readers that it was imperative they go to his site and purchase his book or bad luck would follow. He also instructed them to forward the eamil to at least 8 other people so that God's blessings would reach all who read his book. (using God to promote your own personal wealth...imagine that)

I smiled to myself as I quickly deleted his email. I smiled as I thought of all the blessings that have followed me even after I began to destroy those annoying and untruthful letters. Here's a chain for everyone who reads this. Be good to each other, don't send out stupid letters as scare tactics, just treat people the way you want to be treated and the world just might be a better place. You can pass this message along if you want, but if you choose not too, your house won't blow up nor will your toes fall off from the scorching heat. The only thing that will happen is somewhere along the way, someone else might say the same thing again, and you'll just have another opportunity to hear it again.

Be blessed People!