It was a short, even telegraphic, message: "Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage."
With these words, Western Union announced the death of the telegram, the original form of electronic communication that dates back 150 years.
It's always sad to see anything pass, such is the odd nature of things: we want things to last, though nothing is meant to. From whence that whimsical yearning? There must be something in us that doesn't pass, something "hard wired" to say all things don't pass and therefore our yearning for eternity isn't absurd.
Thanks, by the way, to Inn at the End of the World for the story.
