by Hapi8Wanderer Nic
Humans, being the sociable species that they are, have used and found many ways to express their thoughts and having them recorded for posterity.
The early records showed that they started with pictograms on walls of the caves that they live in, using charcoal or merely scratching the surfaces of the stones, which forms the inscriptions which were later found by archaeologists as they dug around the various historical sites.
From scratching to using the early forms of more advanced writing equipment like feathers and eventually leading to the modern pens that we use today. Humans continue to pen their thoughts and research findings so that fellow homo sapiens can benefit from the sharing of knowledge.
I have kept my practise of writing alive by maintaining a record of daily activities in my diary, a habit which I’ve continued since I started 35 years ago.
Why do I write? Well, basically it’s to keep my handwriting tidy through daily actions.
During school days, when we start writing after a long term or holiday break, many may still remember how horrible their initial attempts at writing turned out. Gradually, as we revived the art of writing, the handwriting became neat once again. And so it goes that we need constant practise to maintain the habit of whatever we do.
I still write my diary today, an activity that I partake before I go to bed, as a conclusion to the day’s events. As time goes by, I get better at articulating my thoughts and penning them down as a record of my life.
Writing keeps my mind alive and my hand active. By constantly writing, I’m also showing gratitude for the healthy and complete body that I have.
As time passed, I’ve migrated to penning my thoughts electronically, in addition to the traditional pen and paper. Using the keyboard, there’s no longer the worry of how neat the writing will be but this will be compensated by the quality of writing.
My late parents were school teachers and I still follow their teachings – no abbreviations and writing in the full form, in proper grammar and spelling. Language is the basis of communication and it differs depending on which part of the continent that you live in.
In my part of the world, the English language is a commonly acceptable form of lingua franca. I think and compose my thoughts in English. Therefore, it’s not a big issue when it comes to writing in the language of trade.
Social media and the many forms that it appears, are founded on language and communication, in addition to the photos and videos.
While the language used in sales and marketing are intended to invite interest in products and ideas, the discussions in the political arena can be quite crass as humans express their opinions and sharing with other human beings.
More often than not, humans forget their decency and in the heat of the moment, use creative language based on their level of creativity to add colour to the discussion. It’s good to read but not a good example to follow. I will still write in full, without unnecessary abbreviations and I don’t plan to change this habit.
Artificial Intelligence or AI as it’s more popularly known, is a good tool to help many to write. As AI is based on probability, the facts and sentences gathered by the software are generated from its own learning through activities and information it finds on the internet, and the paragraphs that it proposes, is a culmination of its finding and research which is faster than the human is capable of.
However, we still need to read through and not accept it blindly as fact without us checking and confirming that its suggestions are accurate.
I’ve yet to make it a habit of using AI to write. For now, I’ll still pen my thoughts on my desk while drinking a glass of fruit juice or coffee.
Writing is a joy and it should be left at that, me slowly carving out the article in my free time.
WE