Letter

Here’s an awkward net.situation: someone mistakingly sends you a personal email to your address because your name is very close to the name of someone else in the organization. Normally this is merely amusing but sometimes it can be distressing. In this case, my alter ego’s sibling has cancer. The person who sent me an email offers condolences and reveals that his sibling also is afflicted. How does one reply to this without seeming callous? I can’t just forward it to the intended recipient, or worse, delete the email. I don’t know the guy. I can’t say, “Oh, sorry to hear about your sis. Tough break. Good luck!”

I lied in my response, saying that I had stopped reading quickly when realizing it was meant for someone else. I went with “Best regards.” What kind of a closing is that? We need a better palette when it comes to wrapping up letters or emails. There’s practically nothing between the stoic “Sincerely” and too emotionally overloaded “Love.” Something that succintly says, “I would be truly sorry and offer my heartfelt, sincere sympathy, if it would mean anything to you, given that I’m just a random human thousands of miles away that just happens to have the same name as someone else.” Well, we do what we can.

Love, Bob