The Power Of The Written Word

THIS past Monday marked exactly a year when I first heard the phrase, ‘I Write Better Than I Speak.’ I was in Johannesburg, South Africa when one of that country’s public broadcasters aired the 2012 CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist Awards which were held for the first time here in Zambia on July 21.

These words were spoken by Andrew Mulenga, a freelance art and heritage journalist and columnist for Zambia's leading independent newspaper The Post. Andrew who scooped the Arts and Culture category for his in-depth article about the intimate and life long relationship between the Malian musical instrument, the Kora, and its master-the devoted musician, said in his acceptance speech, “It is obvious that I’m here because I write better than I speak, so I won’t speak much. Thank you.’’

Being in a foreign country and watching a Zambian journalist getting an award at the prestigious CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist Awards brought a sense of pride and joy. I must mention though that it’s unfortunate that there are no Zambians among the finalists of this year’s competition which will be held on October 12 in Cape Town, South Africa.
However, this article isn’t necessary about journalists and awards. It is about the power of the written word.

Over the years the written has not only inspired me, it has also challenged and sustained me. Writing is a joy to me. It’s a passion and I can’t be without it. To me, writing is a way of life and it actually makes me who I am.

In no way is this a glorification of drugs, but writing is a crack of life. Once I took it seriously, I got addicted. I have found writing as a way for me to release pain. I find it therapeutic to put feelings onto paper than talking about them. That need of putting thoughts onto paper has always been with me. And I wouldn’t wish it to go away.

It really doesn’t matter where your interest lie. In the world of politics, business, religion, art, and social service, the written word is crucial. The movers and shakers of this world set pet to pen because sooner or later, it is film, music and poetry that move people.
The written word is perceived to have more authority and pervades, persists, and powerfully produces change.

Two days after the April 27, 1996, cease-fire in Lebanon, a TV interviewer asked then and current Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau how the new agreement differed from one a few years earlier. He replied, “this one is in writing, whereas the former one was verbal over the telephone. Print has a different value.”

Spoken words can be forgotten, or they can be changed when they are repeated. Written words, though, aren’t dependent on memory, and they can’t be easily ignored or changed.
In the Old Testament, when God spoke to the people of Israel, He told His prophets to write down what He said (Deuteronomy 5:22; Jeremiah 36:2; Habakuk 2:2). God didn’t want His words to be forgotten or misrepresented.

One of my favourite movies is the 2007 Richard Lagravanese drama film Freedom Writers which stars Academy Award winner Hilary Swank. The movie which is an adaptation of Ellin Gruwell’s best-seller The Freedom Writer’s Diaries is about a crusading teacher who turns around a hostile class by getting them to write down their experiences and feelings in a journal. The movie is basically about how a teacher and 150 teens used writing to change themselves and the world around them.

A Canadian novelist and poet named Margaret Atwood once said, “I happen to believe that at its best writing is considerably more and other than mere self-expression.”
Writers, in my book are the heroes of the world. Besides informing and educating us, they articulate things that we feel but don’t know how to express.
I know someone might be going, ‘writing is a talent.’ Of course making an impact with words is special, liberating and powerful. However, writing is something that is accessible to all of us.

All writing requires is someone who wants to communicate about something to someone even if that someone is oneself. I think everyone has a story to tell. And I feel it is important to tell our story. Of course not all of us can produce best-selling biographies. However, we can pen memoirs for those close to us who would want to know who we were, what we did and the difference we made if not to the world, then to people close to us.

Most of us may not be aware of this, but through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, we are actually telling our stories. And for the majority, our social network pages may be the only ‘evidence of our existence’ that we will leave behind when we die.

Though I’m no longer on facebook, I would urge those who still have accounts with the giant social network to utilize such Medias to not only tell our stories but also spread awareness of anything happening in the world, large or small.

Personally, I prefer writing for one reason; the enduring power and potential of the written word. Remember, only you can teach yourself to write. And you can’t teach yourself to write until you’ve written something.