Writing is very much a personal activity. It is well-known that psychologists use hand-writing to decipher one’s personality, as in a mirror. Writing is ultimately tied to one’s character. Learning how to form well-rounded loops, to write slightly in italics, and to form letters even in size helps develop one’s own sense of order. It is, in other words, a gymnastics of the mind, and the same can be said of mental calculation as well. As each person is unique, each person’s penmanshift is equally unique–unlike standardized computer letters, each the same on a white dematerialized background. It is only ironical that at a time we are seeking ever more individuality, whether in original names, in individual rights, or in eccentric fashion, we are doing away with the most inalienable and unique feature of each one’s personality.
Cadmus, who brought the Greeks writing, also helped them build civilization, by allowing poetry and literature to be written down, and certainly helping philosophy and medicine to develop. It helps develop our “human-ness” by training our minds. Perhaps those who favor typing over writing will object that people can still create poems and novels by simply using a keyboard. Perhaps, but training one to be a more efficient technician does not make one a poet; and poets first need to look at the world through eyes that a keyboard does not give. Unless one is content to build a society in which men are only functions of the digital system, it is a priority to teach our children to write, and to write properly, so that all will have the chance to learn the value of creation–a creation worth much more than all the money generated in a click.
Page 12
