Some stories passed around in chain letters are actually true and have a lot of merit because of it, and if one can find out where it originated and who wrote it.

Regina Brett who turned 50 in 2006, wrote the piece entitled "50 Life Lessons" which has become the most popular, so widely forwarded column from the Plain Dealer in Ohio. There is one problem with the chain letter version, it puts her age at 90. She has written more colums, apparently at least one other has ended up in a chain letter forward, apparently as an anonymous essay on the cost of raising children. She touches on this as well as the tall tale about her age in another wonderfully humorous column called Life Lessons Speed Up On Internet; 90 Years of Living in 50 and there are many more writings by her at her site.

A Life Without Left Turns by Michael Gartner, is an article published in USA Today on 06/15/2006. It is truly a heart-warmer that contains fond memories of Gartner's family. A true, good story in its own right.This discussion. shows that it has turned up in an email forward, but because of its validity and the email forward's lack of typical chain letter "pass it on" crap, it isn't a disagreeable email. USA Today even has a few options for sharing the story.

However, there are concerns about any story getting misused once it becomes an email forward. While this one as shown in the Snopes discussion contained none of the usual chain letter pressures to send it on, neither had it contained the link to the original article, which was posted on the thread a way down. The more a story is circulated on the internet, the greater the chances of chain letter junk getting attached to it as well as the author being stripped of credit.

Loud And Clear - by Anna Quidlen is a great article in its own right, about parenting. But as this blog indicates, it has even been taken and used in a chain letter. Thankfully, Anna Quidlen's name has not been omitted or replaced by the name of someone who didn't write it.