Extra credit: T ag more people and ask them to do the same. In order to restore myself to goodness in their eyes, I must suffer physical discomfort and humiliation and then post about it. Worse than a chain breaker, t hey are going to think I am a bad person. But then I think of the stakes : these friends are going to think I don’t care about their cause. You can ask me a thousand different ways if I feel like dumping ice water on my head, and the answer will always be no. Notably, I think I was asked 50 times to dunk ice water on my head. Ĭhain letters have now morphed in to social media challenges, often requests for you to do something unpleasant to raise awareness about something. I n that case, I opted for the stigma of being the person who broke the chain. In return, I would receive ten pairs of underpants from stranger s. ” The item or concept requested is usually a favorite recipe or an inspirational quote, though I once received one of these emails asking me to mail a new pair of underpants to the person in the first position. Please send your to the person at the top of the list and move your name to the second position and forward to ten friends…” I always expect that sentence to end with “… friends who presumably have nothing to do or with whom you ’d like to break ties. They begin, “My friends and I thought it would be fun to exchange among friends. The se are easier to deal with and the stakes are more emotional than concrete: D on’t let us down by be ing the person to break the chain.
I didn’t care who I sent them to I just needed to get them out of my house.Īs soon as email was invented, chain letters went online. With my hands covered in L iquid P aper, I shoved them in envelopes and scribbled the addresses.
D LETTER CHAIN MANUAL
So, I’d pull out my mom’s manual typewriter and hunt and peck my way through ten letters. I had no printer / scanner situation, no mimeograph machine. Technology being what it was, copying that letter was not so easy. I’d sigh, resign to my fate, and get to work. And, for perspective, when you’re 9 years old, seven years is a really long time. If you fail to do so, you will suffer seven years of bad luck. You must copy the document ten times and send to ten friends within 24 hours to assure yourself an influx of outrageous fortune. And for good reason.Īs you will recall, a chain letter was a typed document that included a specific set of instructions and consequences. I am fairly sure that, when I was 9, a chain letter addressed to me prompted my first spontaneous use of a curse word. But a few times a year, I’d receive a chain letter, and the next 24 hours would no longer be my own. Most of the time whatever was addressed to me would be harmless - a birthday party invitation, a n issue of Highlights magazine. In the late 70s, I approach ed the mailbox with some trepidation. I opted for the stigma of being the person who broke the chain.
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