THE pen is mightier than the sword we say glibly, repeating an oft quoted line, but having no idea whether it’s true or not, or sometimes what it means! Swords! Gone are those days! Swords are not used anymore, and instead sharp, choicey expletives, pointed and lethal have replaced them. Instead of fencing with sword we do so with throat, and armed with phone or microphone, we yell, scream and do what the swords of yore did.
But hardly inflict damage! Shouting, yelling and screaming do not convey the message, they just show frustration, anger, and finally a lack of character. Ever spoken to a call center ‘executive’. Your phone line has gone, your internet is down, amazon has not delivered a much-needed order, and as you listen to the cool, passionless voice of the ‘executive’ all that happens is you get more inflamed.
Now, try writing an email to the company. Suddenly you are a king of the situation as apologies and compensation flows in. The better you write, the quicker they’ll find a solution to your problem. The power of the pen!
And that power is yours in everything you need to do. All we need is learn to write right, and the first rule is, never write in a temper, because your words on paper will be like your voice on the phone, angry, bitter and irrelevant. Wordsworth put it so well when he talked about the daffodils and said,
‘For oft, when on my couch I lie, in vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye. Which is the bliss of solitude’What flashed when he was relaxed? Why, the daffodils he had seen earlier! And what came out of him writing later? A beautiful poem! The same with any injustice or wrong which affects you. Wait awhile. Then write; logically, brilliantly, eloquently. And this could just be your beginning: You open the newspaper, see something distasteful, racially offensive or undemocratic which makes for good ‘armchair’ discussion. A discussion where two people sit across each other and vent their anger on an incident. After that, the hot topic is forgotten. Instead, use the same technique as we’ve already talked about: Write right! You wait, and you write, send a letter to the editor and your published views make an impact, which could even bring change.
Hone those same skills, and your views could be printed as an article. Work even harder on your ability to write, and you could become a columnist or write a bestseller! Today, when most everybody is working from home, maybe you could start practicing to write right. And then one day as you see your name in print, you will say, “I owe everything to the lockdown. I learned to write right!” Don’t waste your time for gyms to open, equip yourself with the powerful power of the mighty pen..!
