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Stamp collecting, like and sedentary activity, is now widely condemned as 'boring'. This is a product of our silly modern lives, where instant gratification and excitement are the only criteria considered worthy and acceptable.

When I was a kid, I lived in a very remote part of the UK. Letters were the only means of active communication with the outside world. My parents had little knowledge of things beyond their backyard. Collecting stamps opened up an entire planet to me. Stamps that came from 'exotic' places like Africa, South America, and the Soviet bloc countries. Indeed, even as a 10-year old, I always thought how silly the cold war was; people in Russia made stamps, sent letters; surely, they weren't the nasty 'commies' that the US-propaganda machine presented them as being. They must only want to live their lives in peace, like us.

If it wasn't for stamps, I may never have gotten my globe out to check-out where Hungary was, or know its capital. I may not have had the interest to stop when I heard Radio Sofia on the shortwave receiver, and compare what was said there with the version given by Voice of America radio!

Learn more about this author, John Rowlands.
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