On Writing as a Fundamental Human Habit
For me, writing is not just a lifestyle or a method of operating instructions as Chee and Le Guin respectively suggest, but it is more than those concepts. Sure, one can actively pursue a lifestyle where one writes constantly, and writing is a fundamental method of communication, but the two are intricately connected and are unified by one thing: our human condition. I agree with Le Guin that literacy is the best manual we have for operating within daily life, but I feel that notion almost degrades writing as something we must do. Instead, I feel that writing is something we should want to do as social creatures, just as one may crave the company of others or someone to talk to. I understand that for many writing is hard, and there is a real struggle with connecting thoughts to words. In addition, writing is personal and it makes us vulnerable, but therein lies the inherent beauty. Speech with others also is vulnerable, but it is fleeting such that it is up to the mind to record it; wr...