Focus on Education: Words in Search of a Writer By: Anthony Pellegrino
One night I stumbled into a huge darkened auditorium. The room was filled with a buzzing sound. Somehow I flicked on the lights and to my amazement found thousands and thousand of words like little molecules floating around the room making a funny whizzing sound. They seemed to be searching for an exit.
Looking around I saw two doors at one end of the auditorium. Over one door was a sign that read: “Spoken words through here.” There was a long line of words trying to jam through that door with more behind them pushing and shoving. Over the door next to it was another sign which read: ” Written words through here.” Only a few words were lined up politely in front of it. I made my way to that door anxious to see what was on the other side.
I stepped into another large room and saw many men and women seated behind desks neatly lined up. Each person was reaching into the air and pulling down words as they drifted by and writing them on a sheet of paper. At times the words were discarded back into the air where another person reached for them and wrote them down.
Engulfed in silence the entire room had a huge banner strung across it with the words: “In the Beginning Was The Word!” Looking closer at the people behind the desks engrossed in their occupation of writing, I recognized many of them. There were such luminaries as Homer, Plato, Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot, Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost and oh, so many more. I stood in awe. Where was 1?
I ventured over to one of the writers and asked politely what is this place? He turned his face up at me from the page and replied: “This is the Great Hall of Writers who have written their thoughts for all humanity to read and contemplate. We labor here through eternity writing our thoughts, feelings and aspirations for a better mankind.”
“And what is in the next room where so many words are trying to jam through the door?” I asked.
“That is the room where people who do not enjoy writing are doomed. Throughout eternity they prance around the room and keep shouting words and thoughts they expressed throughout their lives. No one remembers who they are and what they are saying. They just keep shouting at the top of their lungs to be heard.”
Suddenly I woke up and understood what my dream had been about. Writing has always been a chore for me as it is for millions of people. Yet all of us speak out often times without value and without reservation anytime we have a loose thought . But when we are forced to write down our thoughts we shy away.
In prior articles I have mentioned the necessity for good reading ability. However if we are to succeed in competition with our fellows, we must learn the skill and art of being able to put on paper the rambling thoughts that flow through the treasure chest of words between our ears.
I have seen the most belligerent individual reduced to utter frustration when he was told to write down his complaints. For many of us, writing is reduced to just signing our name. Writing remains a mystery to many of us.
Let’s wake up and realize that our economic worth depends on our level of ability to think and to express coherently our thoughts in precise and correct manner. Let s wake up and stop being afraid of losing our job because we cannot read and write intelligently. An educated man is never afraid of life for he has mastered the skill and art of survival through the use of his mind!
Strictly a personal view. Anthony Pellegrino is a businessman and member of the Board of Education.
