What is a treasure that’s been lost?

Penmanship.

These days, everything, it seems, is on a phone. I could be writing this very blog post on a phone, with only my thumbs.

Penmanship requires a thumb and at least two fingers.

Fonts are static and replicable. Their design is final, unchanging, indefinite. New fonts are being created all of the time but they remain fixed once completed. Statuesque.

Handwriting is truly unique. Repeatable but always slightly different. Never is a letter written twice by the same hand the same. Imagine the infinite possibilities that exist in a world where nothing — not even two of the same thing — is identical to anything else. This is the definition of freedom.

Typing is too quick. The backspace key removes all traces of any errors. It is human to err. My mind races to keep up with my fingers which are trying to keep up with the deluge of thoughts in my mind. The vicious cycle continues ad infinitum.

A pen traces ink slowly across the surface of a piece of paper. Friction is essential to the process. All of the humanness remains ad infinitum.

Comments

3 Responses to “What is a treasure that’s been lost?”

  1. Tetyana Skrypkina Avatar
    Tetyana Skrypkina

    I miss handwriting too. I try to write as much as I can, but most of the time then, I have to type the text because all my work is only.

    1. aly Avatar

      Typing is a much faster and cleaner way to write but it lacks the grit, I find. I think it’s great that you start off with handwriting, though!

      1. Tetyana Skrypkina Avatar
        Tetyana Skrypkina

        Well, if you can write fast and understand what you write
        … 😃

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