The Pen is Mightier Than The Sword

Words, just come to me!
Some days its a vision on the drive around the country , some days it's a newspaper headline, a television or movie script that has words that excite me, other days, like today, its the topic subject of anothers' Facebook entry which stirs the fires within.


Today I read the words..."is the Pen still mightier than the sword in a digital age".... okay, okay that is a little out of context and not quite the wording nor pretext of the accompanying blog either. But I saw the headlining words and instantly I had to pull over the car and tap out the following blog - the words where filling my head that fast . (And yes, that does mean I have a laptop in the car and that it is going while driving. And you thought text/driving  was dangerous!!! Well I say if the police can have a laptop in their cars, we all should. They drive safely. So do I. Especially when my internet is out of range. ..ha ha.. I digress.)




Part of the blog which is linked to the headlines that I read, goes onto ask, "What paths did these two disparate instruments travel? What happened to their evolution?"   


Let me say that, I think......... we happened!!
The pen, once a quill or feather, then a fountain pen then a ballpoint and now simply a key to be tapped on a laptop has sent us all introvert. We blog indoors, we message our friends from the comfort of solitude, we message, email and SMS, from private homes, work and cars - alone.
The sword, has been lost as we developed archery, then guns, then missiles. In essence even war went indoors. We became such amazing intelligent beings that both writing and war can now be done from private areas making and allowing us all time to spend by ourselves, on play station, laptops, messenger, Facebook, cell phones, ipads and computers etc. The Sword and the Pen converged in history when humans became more comfortable being alone, rather than being with each other.

Is it still relevant to teach the saying,”the pen is mightier than the sword”, in a digital age where neither are used.

Now I’m of the old guard for sure, but not too old. 

When I wrote my first book and began writing for the newspapers, it was all done on typewriter.

But I'm  also young enough that I have embraced the digital age too. 

This blog; proof of that. 

Most days I have a ridiculous part-tv/part-Walkman strapped to my head ,what we call an iPod. 

I use an Apple Air to belt out my words these days and I stalk friends and acquaintances online with Facebook and annoy them with emails too.

But is all of this worth throwing away the history from whence we came? 

Should we begin deleting portions of our language because they have aged.

Definitely not !!

We still are learning and watching movies based on Shakespeare right ?

It would be like not teaching children about dinosaurs because they are extinct!

Stop teaching about World Wars I or II  because the participants have all passed on, or to stop teaching about cave men and rock paintings because we have evolved into houses!

Just recently a gorgeous friend of mine stated that she could not write with a pen anymore as she never has to. So used to the digital tapping on flat screens and key boards, she finds it cumbersome to handle a pen or pencil.

What happens in an electrical black out !!

I for one could not function without the pen. I write reams of notes and many of my novel first drafts are all hand written and tapped into the laptop at a later date. I fly frequently and numerous times my laptop depletes itself of charge. What then for the remaining six or seven hour journey? I hand write!

When I was at school I was offered the chance to do short hand. Only one boy in my grade took it. I wish so often now that I had joined him. And I wish for the sake of the skill that he eventually found writing or journalism, otherwise he would have wasted it.

The fact behind the statement ,” The pen is mightier than the sword”, was not only about an ink pen and a sharp military weapon, it was about the sentiment. That the written word can have a far harder, longer lasting impact than fighting or arguing for what you believe.

Having written many managerial letters of scorn upon behavior and about particular situations I must say that for the writer also, it is a far more calming clear headed act to sit and write about something rather than running straight in for the attack. Often taking the time to write, calms the situation to the point of resolution , it offers time also for one to re-think their strategy and it offers time to research the particulars of an event.

One swing of the sword or a scornful word in the wrong misdirected un-research area can truly do damage that is irrepairable, and often regretted afterward.

Words used correctly can leave a far deeper cut than any sharp edged blade.

To lose the art of hand writing by pen would be tragic. To lose the sayings, quotes and anecdotes that go along with it and make our blogs, essays and novels so interesting, would be just as regrettable.

Even when things don’t make sense, due to modernity,  we must still teach them - so that others learn from whence we all came, other wise like my gorgeous friend who can not write with a pen these days, we are destined to head back into the caves and start chiseling out our messages on stone again, if the power goes out.

And for those who think that ,”The pen is mightier than the sword,” is actually about combat fighting like another friend of mine, go smack yourself with a iPad and wake up.