Writing to Change the World: We All Have Stories to Tell

If you read everything you had ever written, would you find yourself reading a story in between the lines? Probably not, but you might start to see patterns in your word choices and topics. Maybe you would see some phrases picked up from your mother or father, or find yourself asking your readers the same questions in different words. Who we are changes how we write, and chapter two of Writing to Change the World emphasizes this difference. We aren't just robots, doomed to repitition in acting exactly like all of the other automatons around us, but individuals with differing experiences and emotions and choices, each with our own flaws that make our writings unique.

Have you written outside of this class? Do you have a journal or a blog, a fictional tale that you've made in your own time? I think that nothing says more about us than our labors of love, the things on which we spend our extra time. I don't think this is restricted to writing, but I do think that we can learn more about ourselves when our observations can already be described in words. Maybe it's time to look back on the things you've made, the things you've written, the things you've done, and examine them. Maybe it's time for me to read through the fiction I've written over the years, to find the patterns and clues and to dig a little deeper once I have. 

"We all have stories to tell,"(40) writes Pipher. We may not know exactly what those stories mean for us until we stop experiencing them for a moment and just read.

The Threat of Apathy

When trying to think of what was good or bad in the world this week, I drew blanks at every turn. I hadn't heard of any problems from my friends or family. The news didn't interest me. Politics was the same-old same-old. Other peoples' problems were theirs, not mine. Every disappointment I had was either something I could make go away, or something I hadn't worked hard enough for.

It was all very self-centered, really.

I think that there is a danger in apathy. By definition, people come to believe that apathy happens when we don't care about anything. And there are truly apathetic people who care for nothing, politics or people or themselves - and these people waste away without others to care in their stead. In practice, however, apathy is usually just another kind of selfishness. I'm sure that even people who described themselves as apathetic would have complaints if, say, their lives were made more difficult, or were in danger, or if the person in question were unable to do what they personally wanted to do. It's when we look at others that the caring ends and apathy begins.

People these days sink so far into themselves and their own obligations and personal lives that the rest of the world may as well not exist. Maybe we're too busy. It's hard to pay attention to anything outside ourselves when we have a million other tasks to finish. Maybe we're afraid of putting our time, our emotions, our lives on the line for the sake of other people and their work.

But this is a problem. As human beings, we are creatures of community. We are like many islands, one that grew food, another that build great structures, another that created beautiful things, and so on, and all of which shared their gifts with the others. As we share our skills, our lessons learned and our raw potential, we build each other up. We grow in strength and ability and spirit when we are around people who are different from ourselves, who are not ourselves.

When we stop caring about others, we distance ourselves from them. We lose our bonds, our supports, and become islands of stagnating personality, untapped and unchanging and unnecessary.

Therein lies the threat of apathy.

Writing to Change the World: Be Bold; Be Honest

Chapter six of Mary Pipher's Writing to Change the World reads like a lesson in business, career transition, leadership, or anything where the doing, rather than the trying, is key to success. Pipher considers the values of persistence and of beginning in the first place, of clarity and honesty, of fighting pressure and anxiety in ourselves and of seeking support from the people around us.

"Be Bold. Be Honest,"(75) writes Pipher, and it applies to the entire chapter. Writing is active, not passive, and gains more from being bold and standing out than from passivity, which lets it blend into the background noise of every other half-uttered opinion. Mary explains how, “we learned to write cautiously,”(75) afraid to give our own opinions, our own words. She tells of how we struggle against apathy, anxiety, and everything that results when we are not bold. She says we worry about being wrong, about giving an incorrect point of view, about things that wouldn't matter so much if we would just be honest with ourselves and others.

Believing in oneself, in this chapter, becomes the root of good writing. Without confidence, how can we share our experiences, our beliefs? When we doubt ourselves, doesn't that reflect in our writing as well? If we become stronger, if we let others strengthen us, would more of these beliefs be shared? Would we become closer and understand more?