The Importance of Writing

published in 2011 - updated in 2020 

takes only 4 min read 

Why the hell do we need to write?   

 

Before I go on, first things first - if you unable to articulate your thoughts orally, how the hell do you intend to do it in writing? 

 

I have to admit that it takes skill and endless hours of practice to get your grammar/comprehension straight.  

 

Q: Is it hard to write? 

Well, try first and then you'll know. Write a 100 words about yourself and let your pal take a look at it. If your pal is laughing miserably hard, that is a good sign and you can apply to be a comedy scriptwriter.   

 

 

Q : Why do we write? 

A - In the past, memorization was integral to a largely oral culture, but it became less important when the written word was invented, and even less so when the written word was mass produced. Our dear Socrates refused to put down his ideas in writing because he felt that knowledge was a living, interactive thing – it required the exchange and discussion of ideas. 

 

Putting it down in writing only “froze” knowledge into a single persistent perspective. He believed that truth was something to be pursued, rather than discovered.   ( well Malaysian history writers took "froze" as a cue to forget to document lots of important stuff except one particular "glorious" race )   

 

The famous Socrates complained against writing centers, first, on the fact that people will rely on an external technology rather than their own internal resources of memory. 

 

Socrates

 

Secondly, writing actually contributes to the depletion of memory, for in relying on an external system of recording, knowledge is merely recalled, and is no longer stored and thus known within the mind of the individual.   

Again.....why are humans against technology?   Thanks to the mighty "GOD", his student Plato who documented his logical long-winded rantings in the written form. 

Those guys in togas had nothing better to do except debate endlessly and let us scratch our heads in Philosophy classes for hours the next 1000 years after. I wonder who cooked their lunch/dinner and did their laundry. 

 

The Romans on the other hand were busy rampaging other towns. 

 

If mankind didn't write, we wouldn't have the Bible or the Quran.

 

If they had not done this, I guess all of us can be prophets. Its sad to see that now MAN is using the Quran or The Bible solely as an object or proxy rather than investigate, contemplate upon it and realize that the writing in it shows that MAN is insignificant.  

 

However back to the importance of writing : - We have blogs now. Although blogs now can be a pain in the arse as majority of their content centers around what its writer ate two hours ago or what type of teddy bear they just bought in the shopping mall, from a positive angle, their efforts at documenting their silly existence is commendable. 

 

It's like peeking into somebody's diary.   It's as easy as ABC when it comes into writing :- 

1. What do you want to say? 

2. Do you know what you really want to say? 

3. Don't beat around the bush - get straight to the point. ( eg : If you are hungry, just write "I am hungry" not "I am contemplating on my selection of my food" ) 

3. Enrich your vocabulary and of course, read more books. If you read more, it is not necessarily going to influence your thoughts, but it will definitely enrich your writing prowess.   

 

Of course not all of us can write like a word of GOD or J.K Rowling, but if we understand what we really want to say in writing, just pass it to someone and ask them nicely to spend a few minutes to take a look at it.   

 

Q : Is it really that hard? 

A :  ( your answer )  

 

P.S : "somebody" proofread this, and what you are reading now is edited.   

 P.S.2 : Once, yours truly writing in English regarding Design Industry was plagiarized and published in a Mandarin publication.I wonder the magazine readers understand it or not.

Its noted that Plagiarism was practiced by adults not only exclusive to the students. (I do not understand this sentence.)   

P.S.3.: the writer admitted that reading miserable articles can affect your writing skills.