A Subversive Force Of Kindness – The True Nature Of Greeting Cards

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“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” Dalai Lama

Simple to understand. Very hard to do. A simple act of kindness performed. A simple act of kindness received. One greeting card has the power to make that simple act happen. One, just one, sends a wave of happiness that radiates around it like a pebble dropped gently into a pond.

Sending a greeting card, whether duty-bound or not, implies an act of kindness. It involves you in the act because you have to do something to make it occur. You have to pick the card and, at the very least, read it so you’re sure it says something appropriate for the occasion.

The fact that you take the time to send a card means, at some level, you care. It is a simple act of kindness no matter what your motivation is for committing yourself to the deed.

A Very Brief History of Greeting Cards

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

A long, long time ago, the ancient Chinese exchanged written greetings of celebration and good will for the New Year. The Egyptians also exchanged greetings on papyrus scrolls. Both are originators of the idea.

Germans used woodcuts to create printed cards in the 1400s. Handmade Valentine’s cards were circulating through various parts of Europe in the first half of the 1400s.

Advances in printing presses and mass print production enabled the greeting card to gain in popularity and availability. Sir Henry Cole commissioned the first Christmas card in 1843. Then, in the 1930s, the color lithography was invented and greeting cards bloomed.

In the 1950s, the studio card – the humorous one with big story and the punch line – came barreling out of the starting gates. The 1980s saw the birth of alternative cards, which changed the industry and allowed card creativity to live free and wild.

Now, we’re at the advent and discovery of musical cards and e-cards. A combination of an additional aspect of artistic expression and the ease and accessibility of the World Wide Web further demonstrates the need for people to share a little bit of kindness.

It’s interesting to speculate that some form of “greeting card” probably existed soon after languages were written down. If kindness is a virtue and humans are social animals, it would logical to deduce that kindness often accompanies kindness and always has.

The Call and Answer to Kindness

“Kindness which is not inexhaustible does not deserve the name.” Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Kindness is one the most important virtues in the world’s cultures and religions. It is one the seven virtues defined as unconditional friendship, sympathy, compassion, and charity for its own sake. It is considered a Knightly Virtue as laid out by the medieval code of honor.

The Talmud declares that “deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments”. Book II, chapter 4 of Aristotle’s Rhetoric defined kindness as “doing kindnesses; doing them unasked; and not proclaiming the fact when they are done, which shows that they were done for our own sake and not for some other reason”.

Greeting cards fulfilled an economical and easy way to engage in acts of kindness. Using the language speculation from the previous section, it seems our knightly virtue demanded a venue for sharing that was both personal and tangible.

Since then greeting card “mailings” have become timeless, tireless, and fruitful. One card that simply says, “Hi” with a sketch of a cartoon kitty waving its claws will produce hours of happiness and contentment. Amazing, isn’t it?

Combining Art and Words, and Music, Too!

“Kind words are the music of the world.” Rev. Frederick William Faber

The very act of combining art and words creates a double whammy for both the emotional and physical senses. Art, as a broad craft, is the attempt to explain the inexplicable. Prose, art, and music are the definitive ways of expressing the soul through the physical world.

The written language is the single most influencing artistic form on earth. It simply communicates – everything. Writers create virtual images through their words. Images that stir memories, ignite happiness, rescue us from reality, and liberate our best virtues.

Art is creating a representation of life in all its aspects. Paintings, drawings, sculptures, anything that creates a literal image evokes some kind of emotional response. Even if we think we don’t notice, our eyes do.

Somewhere the art registers in our minds. In that somewhere, our minds are thinking something about it. It may be a quick “euww”. Or it may be enough to interrupt our minds and command our attention.

Combining the virtual and literal into a message of greeting creates a dual shared sensation. Whether it is to allow the giver and receiver of the greeting card to experience a sharing of a special day, to know someone is thinking about them, or simply to indulge in mutual ridiculous laughter, the message of caring is crystal clear.

In the past few years, greeting cards have added the final artistic element to its arsenal of kindness. Music. It is delightful, sometimes annoying when the eight-year-old plays it twelve hundred times in an hour, but ultimately, bigger smiles all around.

If art is literal and words are virtual, then music must be ethereal – the essential spirit of the artistic elements. Art is imagery that conveys the spirit. Words testify to the spirit. Music emancipates the spirit. It floats on the air, stroking every ear it passes, and allows the soul to catch the wave and fly.

Impacting the World with Greeting Cards

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” Scott Adams

If kindness is the true nature behind greeting cards; what they represent and the evolutions they have gone through, then the sheer amount of acts of kindness may actually be underestimated. The business side of the industry should bear out the levity of the subversive quality of kindness greeting cards have on society itself.

The greeting card business is literally a force with its own alliance. The Greeting Card Association (GCA) has worked closely with the United States Postal Service (USPS) since 1941.

When U.S. involvement in World War II threatened to eliminate paper and severely scar the greeting card business, the GCA formed to fight the demise of an industry. Since the war, the GCA has continued to monitor and advocate for the consumer in postal fees.

Now, along with the rapidly emerging new kid on the greeting card block, the e-card; sending a card just keeps on getting simpler. Fast, mostly still free, and easily personalized, the e-card allows greeting card fulfillment to be instantaneous.

This new kid has also had an unexpected, almost paradoxical, effect on physical greeting card mailings. One would expect it to cut into the traditional methods as other electronic applications have, like e-mail and e-commerce. The e-card has given a boost to its already boisterous big brother.

While it is true that an estimated 500 million e-cards are sent worldwide each year and e-cards could replace the traditional greeting card, the appeal of something physical given and received still outweighs the e-gesture in importance.

E-cards are extremely popular, but they are aiding the purchase of greeting cards rather than diminishing it. E-cards allow for a quick touch, a pleasant reminder that you are being thought about, and an appetizer for the physical combination of tactile artistic elements on paper.

A majority of Americans say they prefer old-fashioned handwritten cards and letters to make someone feel truly special despite the importance of e-mail, text messaging, and phones.

Here’s a quick rundown of more amazing and surprising facts about the business of greeting cards as outlined by the GCA:

U.S. consumers alone purchase 7 billion greeting cards every year generating about 7.5 billion dollars of retail sales. More than 100,000 retail outlets provide greeting cards in the country. Each year, approximately 2 billion boxed and individual Christmas cards are sold in the U.S.

An estimated 3,000 greeting card publishers exist in U.S., ranging in size from small specialized enterprises to major corporations. More than 90 percent of all U.S. households buy greeting cards. The average U.S. household purchases 30 greeting cards a year; the average person receives 20 cards each year.

Women purchase more than 80 percent of all greeting cards. Women are more likely to buy several cards at once while men generally spend more on a single card. Approximately one in five card-giving adults say they give cards to provide a tangible keepsake. One-third of card-receiving adults say they hold onto special cards “forever”.

Greeting cards are one of the most popular and accepted forms of kindness in the world. It reaches across every barrier. Politics, religion, culture, space and time. A greeting card is the quintessential form of the simplest and easiest act of kindness.

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” Lao-Tzu