Chain letters…An endless chain indeed.

August 30, 2007 · Filed Under Random Ramblings 

I was reading the recent issue of my school’s Filipino newspaper, “Plaridel” and in one article it talked about chain letters. I then remembered how chain letters have evolved as I moved from grade school, high school and to college.

Back in grade school, I transferred to a public school when I was in Grade 4 and stayed there until Grade 6. Since we were in a public school, the chain letters back then was handwritten. Seriously, my classmates and I wrote in cursive, putting great effort in making our 10 copies of the chain letter we have to pass to the next 10 unfortunate students in the school. It was like a race to get the letters to other students because we will run out of people to give it to. Popular methods of transfer were:

  1. Giving the letter directly to another student.
  2. Inserting the letters in bags of unsuspecting students.
  3. Inserting it on notebooks (when we distribute them after the teachers has checked them).
  4. If all else fails, dropping the letters on our neighbors or other unknown people’s gates.

Then in high school, things changed. We still had the chain letters, but this time we have access to computers during the first year(old computers though, like those which have the orange fonts or other which is used mostly for typing) so we type it, print the sheet, and photocopy it. Yes, by that time the chain effect still hasn’t worn of and we still believe it. All methods of transfer from grade school are still used with the following methods:

  1. Using people’s lockers as mailboxes. (Some people were unfortunate enough to get multiples.)
  2. Inserting it on borrowed books in the library. (Thus the next borrower, who unfortunately opens the inserted sheet and reads it, is sucked back into the chain letter cycle.)

When I reached around my 3rd year HS and the early years of college, the use of emails greatly enhanced the exchange of chain letters. We even started including pictures of scary images to further convince the recipient to forward the letters to others to avoid bad luck. These days, I also get chain letters through instant messages, text, and even through neighbors with a task needed to be done, like baking breads.

Chain letters have certainly changed ways of delivery but the content and structure has stayed the same. After reading it, it must be sent to a number of other people, and in turn we are promised either good luck, good fortune and great love, and most of the time be spared from endless bad luck as the letter claims.

When I receive those chain letters, I still feel the same eerie feeling I got back when I first read them in grade school. Even when I don’t really believe in them anymore, I still forward some of them to other people just because of that small nagging fear in me, that the letter’s threats might indeed happen.

And that scares me more than the monsters under my bed.

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