Offering condolences in a digital age
How do we comfort others in this digital age? Is a text message or emoji enough? When, pray tell, should we actually use the phone to call? Or talk face-to-face?!
A recent New York Times commentary, “The Art of Condolence” by author Bruce Feiler, wades into these choppy waters of shifting cultural expectations. Penned after Feiler’s own mighty struggle to write a condolence letter upon the death of a teenager in his community, in the essay Feiler reflects upon the condolence letter genre, and then shares seven helpful tips.
The tips seem quite reasonable, actually, but I was struck instead by the framing of the piece. In the introduction, Feiler notes,
