This is Day 4 of the 20 Days of Chill writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Today's prompt is Pen and Paper. Please visit the other participants to see what they have put forth on this mighty prompt.
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The pen is mightier than the sword but the paper upon which the words are written is easily destroyed.
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Early writing began some 5000 years ago with pictures, e.g. the cuneiform script, which were impressions made in a clay tablets with a blunt reed used as a 'pen'. As time moved forward, real languages were created and eventually, paper-like material made from the papyrus plant replaced clay and stone, and recorded history began being written on scrolls.
Romans wrote on wooden tablets with sheets of wax, while Europeans used parchment with bone or metal writing implements. This is just a tiny sampling of how writing evolved chosen to illustrate how far we have come since those first primitive markings.
In the centuries that followed came the quill and inkwell, the fountain pen, ball point pens and the use-and-toss disposable Bic Stics, not to mention the lead pencils we began school with. Yeah I know it's really graphite. There are pens in all shapes and colors, some light up and some even talk. Do you really want a talking pen when you're trying to write?
Anyway, with the age of the computer and the internet, keyboards and displays are rapidly replacing the art of writing - of actually grasping a pen and forming letters into words and words into sentences. A recent post on Facebook posed the question - should we still teach cursive writing in school?
If you have to ask that, is it too late already? Is this to be the fate of the pen and paper? I hope not!
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Most of us are stronger than we give ourselves credit for being. Many times we only figure it out when we are faced with one of life's turning points. Now not all turning points are bad or stem from some tragic event, but those that do bring us face to face with the need to find our inner strength. If I had to define a "life turning point" I would say it is when something changes you in such a manner that you feel things will not be the same going forward. In other words, a turning point is not a bump in the road or a plot twist, it is a significant life event.
