Tag Archives: thought

Why Write?

Why should we write? Better yet, why should I write? My firsthand response would be well, because I like it, but the truth is that it runs much deeper than that. Passions don’t sprout straight from the ground up without some sort of catalyst.

At its core, writing is one of the purest forms of expression. Language has the ability to weave abstract thoughts and seemingly intangible emotions into rhetoric and prose, using diction as the building blocks for the articulation of these ideas. Written language manifests itself through a number of means, constantly increasing with time. Initially, spoken word was the main vehicle through which ideas were spread, gradually followed by more and more physical volumes as access to technology permitted it. Whether it’s for personal pleasure or academic gains, writing is an important aspect of life and should be universally embraced.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a fleeting interest in writing. Ever since elementary school I’ve enjoyed doing it; this trait was most likely exacerbated by a dual interest in reading early on, which I can’t quite attest for nowadays. Later, I would want to attribute this preference for language arts as due to a lack of success in classes such as math and chemistry, but looking back it was pretty clear that I was somewhat naturally inclined towards writing from the get go.

It started off with little bits of sentences, journals with innocent phrases and misspelled words that would be accompanied by poorly drawn doodles; the kind of stuff that mothers save for you to either awe or cringe at later in time. The earliest I can remember enthusiastically producing writings at length was in fifth grade, around the age of eleven. Granted they were a part of schoolwork and likely of little substance, enjoying the act of writing was what I remembered. Rather than going out to play on a warm spring afternoon, I found myself immersed in the blank page, a world of endless possibilities, armed only with a pencil and an open mind.

Throughout the years, school taught me much more than I could ever remember, but surely it began to show signs of impact along the way. Writing is a craft that is constantly evolving, one that you can only get better at the more you engage with it. The standards for writing were raised significantly in the latter half of high school and although it felt difficult to keep up, it was a challenging and necessary preparation for the even more markedly increased expectations held in college.

Here at Stony Brook was where I learned by far the most about being a cohesive and effective writer. Over the course of three years, it felt almost as if I had forgotten everything and completely learned how to write again from scratch. The idea of just throwing words on the page to be superfluous and meander towards a point now seems repulsive. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that in reviewing some of my works not even as old as five years ago, the unrefined style makes me shiver. Rather than just slapping together a disconnected narrative drabbed in SAT words, I’ve begun to take a more holistic approach to writing, considering both its tenets as an academic discipline and an art form.

However, the most often overlooked aspect of writing in today’s society is the level of importance it has in the professional world and beyond. Writing plays a role in every academic discipline and often is a central facet in a wide number of careers. Even if the job you have does not require you to write, we are all eventually obligated to write for whatever reason at some point in our lives. In light of this, whether writing is enjoyable or not, being able to view a potential piece of writing as an extension of yourself provides an interesting angle for approaching the task. Your thoughts and ideas will make way for themselves to create an image of yourself on the page. Suddenly, something that was initially tedious to write can seem much more fluid and natural when you attempt to establish a consistent message and tone parallel with this throughout.

Overall, writing is one of the most widely applicable academic disciplines and is of great importance to become familiar with. I feel that I change as a writer constantly, growing with each and every time I pick up the pen. I don’t doubt that this feeling will last a lifetime. In a way, it’s even promoted by the instant access of information in today’s day and age, which permits us to always be learning. There is no capacity for knowledge in this realm and I wish to continue growing as a multidisciplinary writer, only getting better with time. Writing is truly a craft that one must able to embrace and shape into meaning of their own.