Write to the point

Once upon a time, Weird Al Yankovic wrote a song called “The Good Old Days.”

Weird Al, naturally, sang about weird things in that song, specifically about pulling the wings off of flies and shaving the head of his high school romance. But in a roundabout way, the song is a reminder of childhood, of the things we used to do as kids that we'll never be able to do as adults.

I got to thinking about the lost things of childhood on Monday by reading—of all things—a news piece about the U.S. Post Office agreeing to raise first-class letter rates (yet again!) to 41 cents.

In case you missed it, the n...