“In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?”
― Rainer M. Rilke, Letters to a young poet.
There are several ways of conveying meaning through the activity of communication. Nature communicates; both fauna and flora have a way of communicating. Human communication is particularly interesting. It may seem very simple at first thought. We are taught how to communicate from the very early stages of our childhood. Humans learn verbal and non-verbal communication skills and some have the fortune of learning written communication. It is a basic component in a society.
Ever since I can recall, I have been particularly curious about my surroundings, and as a child my father was always a source of answers to the many inquiries I had whilst growing up. As I reminisce, I smile and recall sitting next to him at around the age of three or four years old one night a little before bedtime, whilst he read a book in his armchair. They say life imitates art, so I grabbed a heavy german-english encyclopaedia that was around, and with little to non reading or writing skills, sat next to him and started mumbling out a few words out loud, pretending to read. My father put his book down, and as he giggled he said to me “thanks for the story, time for bed”. He later on told me how he couldn’t stop laughing that night since the encyclopaedia I was “reading” was upside down.
Further down the road, the urge to resolve the questions, exploring my curiosity and my views and opinions for everything around me only grew more and more with the years. For a while now I’ve been particularly fond of a good conversation with someone who I can maybe steal a lesson or two from. Picking someone’s brain out fascinates me. Expressing and discussing my thoughts on particular subjects is to me something golden. And now in my mid 20’s I enjoy it even more alongside a scotch on the rocks or a glass of pinot grigio.
A conversation with an extraordinary person I recently met while traveling asked me if I have ever written anything as a form of penning down a few thoughts.”Perhaps a blog? A journal?” he said. I had written a few things back in high school, blogs and journals, all for homework or project purposes. Never for conveying anything of my very own.
So without further ado, I have no intent of implying my writings or thoughts will be absolutely correct on any particular subject I may be writing about further on. As I write this, the thought of maybe being wrong probably stopped me from doing so before. I intend to make this experience a learning one as well as a form of catharsis at times. So, if you have made it so far down this paragraph, welcome to my mind and all the shenanigans, questions, opinions, and maybe even rants my written communication will convey to you.
So to answer the question, “must I write?” the answer is “I think, therefore I am; I think, and therefore I will write.”
Till next time,
MM
Marie Momentum 