I had to go help out with my little brother's fourth grade class today. I taught them how to write from a prompt, how to get that first good idea from the many floating around in their heads, and how to elaborate on their ideas that they came up with. We did some free-writing, clustering, and brain-storming until something donned on me...I love to write!
"Really, David?" you may ask. "Well that is the world's greatest and most controversial discovery since sliced bread!" (too cliche?) Well, thank you readers for that sarcastic comment...but it's really true.
I asked the kids why we write. What is the purpose of writing things down on a piece of paper, stringing along words into phrases and sentences and paragraphs and essays? I had to answer this question myself, because what kind of teacher goes up in front of his or her students and asks a question that they themselves have no answer to? A bad kind. I thought about why I, David, me, personally, like to write and my answer...there are too many reasons.
I write because I can.
I write because I need to.
I write to express myself.
I write to glorify my Father.
I write because it's easier than talking about stuff sometimes.
I write because I'm gifted at it.
I write because I suck at it.
I write because it makes no sense, and all the sense in the world.
I write because I'm told to.
I write because no one tells me to.
I write to feel.
I write to escape.
I write to find myself and lose myself at the same time.
I write...
"OK, David, you must be going crazy." you may be saying with wrinkles forming on your forehead. "How can you be gifted at something and yet still suck? How can you make no sense, but also all the sense in the world?" Good questions. The answer is...the answer is...what is the answer?
Well, let's see. We are all imperfect. Correct? So, that means we have indefinitely screwed up before, right? Well, I may have gotten a lot right in writing, maybe even only made one mistake ever (extremely hypothetically). But, it only takes one mistake to make you imperfect in that subject. Whether it be lying, or helping, or basketball, we have all screwed up in every aspect of our lives. Therefore, we eternally suck, no matter how gifted we are at something. There is always someone better than us out there in the world at something...and we'll never find them.
I may have come to that conclusion in a roundabout way, but that was my goal, I think. The truth is, writing is now an integral part of me. I've been published once, and I may never be published again. And if I'm not, oh well...I can write about it.
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