(a full text of the article can be found at http://www.ellensplace.net/ar_stamp.html )

“Stamp collecting gives one a large-scale view of the world...and a very benevolent view. One feels: no matter how dreadful some of mankind's activities might be, here is a field in which men are functioning reasonably, efficiently and successfully.”

“...why not collect cigar bands, or coins, or old porcelain? Why stamps? Because stamps are the concrete, visible symbols of an enormous abstraction: of the communications net embracing the world.”

“While the world politicians are doing their best to split the globe apart by means of… brute force, the world postal services are demonstrating...in their quiet, unobtrusive way...what is required to bring mankind closer together: a specific purpose cooperatively carried out, serving individual goals and needs.”

“Stamp collecting gives one a large-scale view of the world...and a very benevolent view. One feels: no matter how dreadful some of mankind's activities might be, here is a field in which men are functioning reasonably, efficiently and successfully.”

“When I hear in the news the name of some country that I discovered only through my stamp album...such as Tonga or Niue...I feel a touch of personal recognition, like an affectionate greeting. Stamps give one a personal value-stake, a kind of proprietary interest in distant lands which, otherwise, would remain mere names and empty abstractions. (Some countries are abusing this and putting out an unconscionable amount of philatelic waste, more stamps than could possibly be used for legitimate postal needs. But collectors are free to ignore them.)”

“A stamp album is like a world tour, with the advantage of focusing selectively on the best aspects of various cultures, and without the bitter disadvantages.”