To Write...Or Not to Write?

So, what is writing to you?

Why, wha-what do you mean? 

I mean, what does writing mean to you? I know you love it. But, why?

   Where do I even begin?.....Profoundly, elegantly, uniquely, writing holds the key to this world that few other actions can ever do. It defines. It communicates. It penetrates. It teaches. It stabs. It hurts. It heals. Writing is using words as your weapon. It must be treated wisely, carefully, and used only for good. It can change the world. Writing so completely holds the world together, that we can not live for even a few minutes without using something attached to it.

 The written word, gives us something with which we do an amazing feat called "reading". How much do you read? If you do school? Well, it's a given that you read then. If you clean a house? You have to read the labels on cleaning bottles and instructions for equipment you use. If you have to buy or grow food? Of course! More labels, seed packets, ingredients, tools all have to be read to understand what they are. If you have to fix a car? More reading. If you have to vote? There is a lot of reading ahead of you. If you have to tell many people about something important? Whether through a speech, or research, or blogging, etc. you and others just had to read. And reading can only happen if writing has come first. Writing is invaluable in every way to every part of our world.

 Now, what I just wrote is my opinion. You may like writing, but not think it's quite that important. You may hate writing and think we should all go back to just talking when we need something. You could also love writing so much more than I do that it boggles everyone's minds! These are all opinions. These are all types of bias. Every person that has ever existed has such a thing as a bias. It is a part of us we can never truly avoid. We can and should, sometimes, work to be impartial. We should always try to see all the sides of an issue before we decide where to stand. We should pursue being balanced and, often, more moderate in our words and actions, at times. 

 However, there remains a time when we must pick a side. We have to chose where we are going to stand. We have to decide what we are going to fight for and what we are going to fight against. And that, is where people differ. That is were we find that true impartiality is impossible for us. Everyone, to some degree is biased. It is far from bad. It is just the truth. And the truth will set us free. 

An Experiment in Logos

  

  Ah! How I do love logic! The deadly, forgotten little dagger of the wise, used in any battle which they find themselves amidst. Not to say that I think I am wise, but knowing yourself to be a fool is the first step in that direction.

 For most of my life I have relished finding fallacies and correcting even the littlest illogical arguments and happenings. In all truthfulness, I think anyone who knows me, hates me to this. So, I find it rather hard to pick just one instance of dealing with fallacies.

  Bandwagon fallacies seem to be the type that I see most easily, hate most, and have most stories about avoiding. One such tale happened last spring, when I was being passionately encouraged to join a youth political organization. For several weeks I received excited emails from a friend and an acquaintance, urging me to join this organization to "take back the government and culture" was the repeated phrase.

 Do not get me wrong, I am passionate about changing the direction that our government and culture are heading. And I know for a fact, that it all starts with each of us, individually and personally, but something didn't quite sit right with me about the email writers' pushy approach. I felt inclined to join because of the urgency and the appearance that many people I knew and respected were also joining or already part of the organization. In retrospect, it seems that there was a bit of false dilemma going on in these emails, as well. I slowly began to believe that there were just two options: join or have no part in changing the culture as a young person.

  Several wise influences came to my aid as I processed the dilemma. Another friend, a sibling, and most effectively, my mom listened and prudently directed my attention to the errors I was stumbling through. Over the course of two hours, my mom and I pondered everything I had gathered from the emails, looking at all the different ways I could still be effective to our government and culture with or without joining the organization. And, at last, she lead me to discover what had kept me so uneasy about jumping into this. Almost everything that compelled me to consider this was the belief that my friends loved and were doing it. In reality? Simply doing something because everyone else, or all your friends are doing it, is never the wisest path.  It is plainly and simply a fallacy; something young people, aspiring journalists, and, in short, anyone can fall for, so be wary! Be prudent! And do not forget to use that little, yet all important tool called logic!