I was on an evening walk the other day when I saw a sign pinned up on a telephone pole. I thought it was a lost pet, and I crossed the road to read it, because you never know, I just might come across a lost kitty (it wouldn’t be the first time.) Instead I found this:
It reads:
HI! I am ten years old and I was very disappointed to know it rained on December 31st and January 1st. But we could stop all that from happening. We could walk to places more. We could pick-up peoples garbage. I know that one day, if we work together, we could make the world a better place.
Ways to me the world a better place:
-we could recycle
-we could walk to more places (drive less)
-we could reuse plastic bags and water bottles
-we could close the lights when we get out of a room
-we could take showers instead of baths
-we could close the water when we brush our teeth
Good luck!
One of the most impressive things about this note to me was that she ends with “Good luck!”. By doing so, this ten-year old gives us the power to accomplish was she proposes.
I think this phenomenal!
All writing should give us this power, it doesn’t have to be on such a grand level, but a story that gives us the possibility to empathize, or relate, or giggle, or laugh, or taste, or smile, or cry, has succeeded. It is the power of words that can be life altering at times, and at others a much-needed moment of relief.
As a writer, this gives me a thrill, to know that my words are given away in a sense, for others to use in their own moment of power (to experience). As a reader, well this is one the of the greatest gifts I can receive. While engrossed in a novel I wonder if part of me knows that this was created by someone else, and that many others have experienced it in their own way, much as I have. My writing is not life altering (as the note created by the ten-year old can be), but if it can share emotions and experience, well then I say that I have contributed.
To that end, I say Good Luck with your writing
This week, the kids have been sick, and I haven’t been able to leave. I try to disappear into my room when time allows and write for even half hour, but my mind can’t focus. I haven’t even been able to read the submissions my group sent out this week. What is it about being home that leaves me surfing the internet or staring at a screen and not paying any attention to it?
