Rebekah George Assignment 16

          The most important question to a writer isn’t will my audience love it or will my audience read it, but rather something far simpler and more eloquent: what if? The constant questioning would drive the average person mad, but not the writer. The writer lives in this strange land of shades of grey. A best friend, a lover. A drug addict, a homicidal maniac. Writers cannot be driven to the brink of insanity because we’re already crazy. However, writing is not so far removed from yourself as you might think. For better or for worse, all of us remain locked away in prison, I mean school, until we either choose to woman up and join the workforce or spend copious amounts of money on still more prison. Either way, one cannot escape the inevitable writing begotten from schooling and the “real world” in this day and age. An integral part of existing as a human being writing takes effort. Excellent writing takes time. It takes emotion. It takes precision. But Shakespearean prose is not what we, as students have been called to create. To put it simply, I write because I need it to survive. Words and phrases find more grace and potency when flowing through my hands as opposed to from my mouth. And that may not be the case for you, but that ought not stop you from partaking more so in the activity. Through a look at the past and present of writing, we shall take a leap of fate into our future with the ancient art form. In essence, by repeating the past to avoid our present circumstance later, writing more shall make the world a better place.

          From the dawn of mankind until approximately 3500 BCE, humans possessed not the avenue by which Shakespeare, Dickens, Poe, and countless others would immortalize themselves. In fair Sumer, where we lay our scene, from wet clay breaks to new invention, where cuneiform makes peasants seem all the more unclean. From the Mesopotamians to the Egyptians, the idea of making your word permanent spread like a wildfire (though mostly independently). The brand new means of communication allowed scribes to record day-to-day life and the history of their people. The first writer in known history was a Mesopotamian princess by the name of Enheduanna. She wrote her hymns to the goddess Ianna, signing them by name and seal. Later came The Epic of Gilgamesh, an…interesting tale about the great King of Uruk and his search for the meaning of life, which is widely considered the first epic in the world. The need for writers only expanded as humans realized that simply remembering everything was less than practical. Merchants now were able to remember exactly who owed them what and what was ordered by whom. Poets rose to the occasion of preserving history and culture. From Homer to Virgil to the writings of philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, this art, this necessary effort preserves and creates. It expands our knowledge. It has both moved countries to war and settled them. In a sense, writing is history.

          As for the present, writing isn’t exactly what it used to be. That’s not to say that it has lost its brilliance or relevance, rather the world has turned from it. In fact, according to the Huffington Post, the illiteracy rate in the United States hadn’t changed in ten years as of 2014. According to a study done by the U.S. Department of Education in partnership with the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million adults in the United States cannot read. Fourteen percent of the United States is illiterate, neither possessing the ability to read nor write. Also according to the Post, economic security, access to health care, and the ability to actively participate in civic life all depend on an individual’s ability to read and write. This leaves a good portion of the population (the voting population, might I add) in a horrific place—perched precariously between Scylla and Charybdis. And, to add insult to injury, this places the rest of the population at a disadvantage as well. According to the Department of Justice, the link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to [illiteracy].” By writing more, we not only encourage our posterity to preserve this art in a world of ever-expanding technology, but we also improve the human condition by cutting down on crime and violence.

          Writing helps us to improve ourselves. First, it stands to be recognized that The Huffington Post finds writing to be as important as I do. Secondly, yet another post from The Post boasts the benefits of writing. Writing helps you to better retain information. This is because the act of physical writing causes signals to be sent from your hands to your brain, building motor memory. Expressing your emotions through writing speeds up healing. According to a study reported in Time magazine from researchers in New Zealand, writing helps the body to heal faster. It also helps to change the way cancer patients see their disease. A 2008 study published in The Oncologist demonstrated that writing helps victims of cancer both view their disease in a more positive light and overall improves their quality of life. Expressive writing has been linked to improvement in mood, well-being, stress management, and symptoms of depression, decreased time spent in the hospital, lower blood pressure, improved lung and liver functioning. Writing is a vast untapped resource that we ought to take advantage of. Considering the percentage of illiterates in the US of A, writing has been put on the back burner. And an art form so vital to basic functioning in the modern world deserves more. More recognition, more focus, and more use.

            A recent push for technological—well—everything has led to concerns among teachers, parents, and the like about the future of reading and writing. Of course, Kindles and ABC Mouse demonstrate the usefulness of technology in the improvement of reading and writing among children; however, this is generally less practical. Writing by hand helps children to better retain information and learn to read more quickly than online because of the motor memory association not present in typing. Furthermore, and rather interestingly, Socrates, one of the founders of Western philosophy, opposed writing. And, unfortunately, some still advocate for these absurd concerns. According to the New York Times, Socrates “believed that the seeming permanence of the printed word would delude [the young] into thinking they had accessed the heart of knowledge, rather than simply decoded it. To Socrates, only the arduous process of probing, analyzing and ultimately internalizing knowledge would enable the young to develop a lifelong approach to thinking that lead them ultimately to wisdom, virtue, and “friendship with [their] god.” I, however, contend that Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare, and Neil Degrasse Tyson were all capable of reading and writing, and they all turned out just fine. In fact, the world has only improved due to their writings and findings. Our generation must hold itself to a higher standard than our parent’s generation, and the countless generations before that. By writing more, you may not only help yourself but also you may help your world and the children we shall bequeath it to. And thus, I encourage you all to talk less and write more.

Why Write? By Jake Weidmann. Perf. Jake Weidmann. Youtube. Ted Talks, 14      July 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

The Power of Storytelling. By Andrea Gibbs. Perf. Andrea Gibbs. Youtube. Ted Talks, 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

How Can Writing Change the World? By Adam Falkner. Perf. Adam Falkner. Youtube. Ted Talks, 07 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Why Write? By Ann Hood. Perf. Ann Hood. Youtube. Ted Talks, 09 June 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Why You Should Write. By Cecilia Knapp. Perf. Cecilia Knapp. Youtube. Ted Talks, 14 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Why You Should Write. By Misan Sagay. Perf. Misan Sagay. Youtube. Ted Talks, 10 June 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Mark, Joshua J. "Writing." Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., 28 Apr. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Chan, Amanda L. "6 Unexpected Ways Writing Can Transform Your Health." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Crum, Maddie. "The U.S. Illiteracy Rate Hasn't Changed In 10 Years." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost, 06 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Plato. "Plato, from The Phaedrus." Plato, from The Phaedrus. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Wolf, Maryanne. "Socrates' Nightmare." Nytimes. New Yorktimes, 06 Sept. 2007. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.