Write it down
I was pretty excited to get a new pen the other day. I have a growing collection of pens on my desk at the office, and several at home, too. None of them are anything really fancy or expensive. But many of them do have different functions - ball point, felt tip, markers, and so on. Some of them were for special promotions from somewhere, and some of them are for special places that I have visited. A few of them have come from visiting salesmen. And a few are pens that I have bought for whatever reason.
My old favorite pen at the office was running out of ink. I am thrifty enough that it wasn’t a refillable pen, so I looked at the store and found a new one that I liked.
But from the time that I got it, it has just been sitting on my desk. Because I realized that I don’t write much any more.
Most everything I do these days is on the computer. I spend lots of time typing things, or sending emails. Many of the projects I work on are never on paper until the final product is printed out. There just isn’t much need for writing. Even when I am out somewhere and need to make a note of something, I just type it into my phone instead of writing it down somewhere. I am more likely to be able to find the note later on that way.
One of the few times that I write anything at work is when someone calls and I need to make a note of who it was or what was said. But even something like that doesn’t always happen every day. Instead of calling, most people send emails now. Which is handy for getting a message across, but it leaves me with nothing to write down.
Apparently, I am not the only one in this situation. I have heard of some schools not teaching handwriting any more, because it is a skill that is quickly becoming obsolete. And I think that is sad.
Writing is still important. It should still be a required task that anyone should be able to do. And besides that, it is almost like an art form. I always enjoy seeing how different people write. There is even a science of handwriting analysis, where someone can tell things about you by looking at how you write.
And besides all that, just imagine what it would be like to meet someone famous out somewhere. “Hey, Johnny Depp! Can I have your autograph!” “Sure! I will email it to you!” That just wouldn’t be the same.
Maybe for my next blog post I should just write it all down and scan it in. That would be different. And probably a little hard to read. Because I am out of practice for writing, after all.
