We live in a world where we click “like” a post on Facebook because we are uncreative in thinking up an appropriate comment or we write a blog entry. We live in a world of re-tweeting the Spain-Netherlands score using the #WorldCup2014 hash tag.
Why do we write, and why should we write? Why do we arrange symbols into a specific order defined as language? Do we write for fun, for work, or just for the euphoria of jotting down feelings which materialize into reality?
I write because it is self expression. People tend to prefer receiving a letter over email, and over the WhatsApp message. In the letter, you know it is the other person you interact with; you can feel the person who wrote it.
It is a sign of great friendship when we receive thank you notes, personally sent and added with attention to detail. This is different from a simple email or text message. It is as though the writer actually were present. A part of oneself is always sent out with every written item from them. In this way, we are able to give a piece of ourselves to society.
Writing shapes culture and forms society. This is a duty for us. People believe the things they read, and so it becomes necessary that we put down our ideas, whether in a blog, or a letter to the editor of the local news paper, or even in the high school magazine. This is a great way of giving to society a piece of the immense knowledge one has gathered through varied experiences. It is a worthwhile adventure, with the hope that many lives are truly transformed with good writing.
In reading the Track A Training manual during my WYA Africa Internship, a series of readings selected to better inform on the work of the World Youth Alliance, I was amazed at the treasures of a great collection of readings carefully selected to form the intellect. Throughout the readings, one constantly affirms and identifies with the truth in the ideas from the readings. I obviously had to read this very slowly and have a dictionary nearby. The underlying lessons are deep, and keep one pondering. It is because these people wrote. Because they wrote, we are able to learn from them. Many of them have left our world, yet the lessons they left us continue to shine, particularly in our world filled with chaos, and hungering for Truth.
Watching Schindler’s List at a WYA Africa film screening recently re-affirmed for me the importance of writing. The movie is based on a 1982 book, Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally. With time, we will realise that the more we read, the better we are able to express our personal convictions and experiences.
In writing, we put down words of love, hate, joy, and anger and even go beyond to everlasting and transcendental considerations because in us, we have a longing for the Ultimate Cause of our universe. WE WRITE. We write because we are human, and we need to express ourselves. We truly can make the world a dignified place and the media helps to form society. My advice to you is, pick up that pencil, or key board, and write a blog for the World Youth Alliance Blog, because it is good to know the experiences of other members around the globe. It never needs to be something that has caused an earthquake, it can be anything simple, because as humans, we constantly learn from every little and big thing that happens. Mostly, it is the little things that we experience, so let us write about these too. Now it is your turn.
By Sylvia Muriithi Wanjiru, a former WYA Africa intern
Join WYA Africa on a hike to have fun, meet our interns and staff, network with other young people, and learn even more about the ideas of WYA!
