Monday, September 29, 2008

Writing




Has been disappearing since the advent of computers

Texting is the death knell of good writing

People can't even spell

And so the critics argue about the death throes of writing

While it is true that newspapers are in decline in many places

It is also true that in India and other countries they are growing strongly

The number of book titles released is increasing and has been doing so for some time now

So what are we witnessing?

Change

And yet more change

Certainly conventional spelling is under attack from SMS and other forms of texting

However many of the billions around the planet texting each other every day would not otherwise have written anything

Writing would not have been part of their lives

Visual symbols are increasing on packaging

Visual symbols are increasing on electronic devices

We are all familiar with numerous symbols which we take for granted

All of us young and old alike of all nationalities

This was not true even a couple of decades ago

Change moving us along

And writing is basic to many transactions be they buying and selling or communicating

Writing is there in one form or another

So maybe the idea of the demise of writing is a bit premature

Without writing life would be oh so difficult

And if we want to argue about content and style then these too are present in all shapes and forms

Never have so many written so much about so many subjects

Never though have there been so many of us

So maybe all these changes are also a function of there being many more of us

Writing informs us

Writing guides and instructs us

Writing involves us

Without writing our world would certainly be a different place
.
Thanks to writing our lives are in many respects more interesting and powerful

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