It's scary and incredilby awesome at the same time. Mary Pipher wrote something in Writing to Change the World that I whole-heartedly related to as I was reading it this week. So I share it with you all:
Quote:
Writing turns out to be one thing we can control in a world where much feels beyond our control. Most of us will not be spearheading protest marches against the World Trade Organization, materminding boycotts against sweatshops in China, or leading the charge against oil exploitation in Nigeria. We won't be building orphanages for children in South Africa. But we do what we can.
We write. Everyday we witness the degredation of much that we value. We witness sorrowful examples of unfairness, ignorance, and cruelty. We see our children educated to want al lthe wrong things. And so we write. We write with a sense of urgency. We write because we discover that we have something we along can say. And we struggle on because we still believe in the power of words, just as Anne Frank believed in goodness despite powerful evidence to the contrary.
We write. Everyday we witness the degredation of much that we value. We witness sorrowful examples of unfairness, ignorance, and cruelty. We see our children educated to want al lthe wrong things. And so we write. We write with a sense of urgency. We write because we discover that we have something we along can say. And we struggle on because we still believe in the power of words, just as Anne Frank believed in goodness despite powerful evidence to the contrary.
So, friends: what are you passionate about? what are you writing (protesting, speaking, singing, acting living) for?
It could be the most important question we ever ask ourselves.
