Remember back to first grade, I would need you to hold me just so, to mark on a paper. You would try your left hand and your right hand. Sometimes the grownups would force you to choose what they thought was right for you, but you would learn along the way when left to yourself what was best for you.
Yes, we wore down the more you wrote or drew. But we would get sharpened. You loved the smell of the wood chips filing off. You kept good care of us. Having a pencil case was a great way to keep us all together.
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| 📷 ds_30 on pixabay |
But as the years went on, you used pencils less often. Pens didn’t have it any better, as more people used their contraptions to type their words, or even just speak them.
Words. So many words. When you wrote them with the pencil, you could easily erase what you misspelled, or what you really didn’t mean to say. You could take time to review your words, to get it just right. The eraser was a good friend, kind of like a conscience.
Now, people spout out things on social media so impulsively; they insult, ridicule, curse. Their emotions in the moment have no reins. They are so impatient to point out their own view, they don’t stop to realize they are dealing with others who also feel emotions. There is no eraser to monitor the message.
Too bad us pencils aren’t used as often anymore. With our pal the eraser, we could help folks slow down, and think about what they want to say, or need to say. Need they say anything at all? Theresa M
PS - Perhaps keeping a written journal - actually written with a pencil or pen - can help us slow down and get in touch with what is really going on inside us.
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| 📷 Domas on pixabay |
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