by Glynis Jolly

Created on: February 05, 2008   Last Updated: February 09, 2008

When I went to do my weekly grocery shopping last time, I also bought a birthday card for my son's girlfriend. When I got in line at the checkout, the woman in front of me casually asked me who the card was for. When I told her that I just liked the girl my son was so interested in, she looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and asked why I would spend so much money on someone who wasn't a relative or my close personal friend. Don't think too badly of her. She isn't the only one who feels this way. With the cost of greeting cards soaring up to as much as $7.95 each, people are rethinking how much their friends are actually worth.

Although giving greeting cards for special occasions has been around since the time of the ancient Chinese and Egyptians, until the late 19th century, only the rich and royalty could afford them. Back then, each greeting card was handcrafted and different than any other greeting card. Even when cards became more affordable because of cheap ways to do color print, you wouldn't see a clerk or farmer buying one. Only landowners and merchants were added to the group who were buying such trivial things. It wasn't until the 1930s, when color lithography was developed, that the society at large started purchasing greeting cards. I found this somewhat ironic seeing that this was also the time of the Great Depression. Somehow, this way of expressing one's feelings towards another became important.

During the prosperity years, this gesture of good wishes grew to one of a largest business. By the late 1960s, people were a giving greeting card for the neighbor next door whose dog has a litter of puppies. People seemed to be obsessed with spreading good cheer and condoling those who weren't happy for whatever the reason. This seemed quite odd to me because of how unpopular the Viet Nam War was. Nevertheless, the greeting card business was growing and was even creating cards that didn't have any special meaning at all.

Sometime during the Corporate years of the 1980s, the exuberance to spread good wishes started to dwindle. Was it the economics of President Reagan's term (Reaganomics), or was it just that people had become self-absorbed? In my opinion, it was more of the latter. The "Me Syndrome'" had become the popular pastime for all of society. If your friend bought a BMW, you just had to have a Mercedes.

Society stayed this way for the most part up through the 1990s. Somehow the greet card industry held on. I saw more and more cards that were blank on the inside giving people options for occasions. The greeting card shops had begun to expand in the 1980s to include small gifts and knickknacks and by the 1990s had some of the largest stores in the malls. Unfortunately, most people shopping in these establishments were buying for themselves or buy cards and gifts to impress someone. Love was low on the list of priorities.

When the 9/11 tragedy hit, it also struck a nerve in people around the world that made them start paying more attention to their neighbors, friends, family, and even strangers. Today, you not only can buy greeting cards to give to the ones you care about, but you can also send e-cards by email. The gesture of good wishes isn't dying in my estimation but it is changing.

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