🦄 Startups & VC 7h ago · Field Notes

People who cannot bring themselves to throw away birthday cards from people who have died aren’t hoarders, they’ve kept the last surviving handwriting of someone whose voice they can no longer summon on demand

Silicon Canals
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People who cannot bring themselves to throw away birthday cards from people who have died aren’t hoarders, they’ve kept the last surviving handwriting of someone whose voice they can no longer summon on demand
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There is a drawer in many houses that nobody opens without a reason. Sometimes it is a shoebox on top of a wardrobe, a folder at the back of a filing cabinet, or a tin that once held biscuits. Inside are birthday cards, condolence cards, postcards, and the occasional letter.
Most may have come from people who are still alive, but the ones written by people who have died are often the reason the collection survives. From the outside, keeping them can look like an inability to throw things away. F

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