Who Cares About Writing Anyway - Essay Example

is about the self, including the individual and the collective inside the “I.” I would like to think that people, however, should think more about what, why, and how they write, because writing renders significant power that should not be diluted by constantly writing about personal and superficial strifes alone. Freedom of speech is a responsibility that is too important to be wasted on empty status updates that do not, at least sometimes, mean something more to people as human beings and as communities.

This paper argues that people should care about writing, because whoever writes well can re-tell the past, appreciate and affect the present, and re-define the future. History spawns power; whoever writes and re-tells it, owns it and the future. Benjamin Franklin has written his autobiography that some praise, some criticize, or some just feel nothing for. But he knows the power of the written word. The written word can be the basis for the said word too. The written word can bring meaning and lessons that can impact the way people think and act.

Lawrence undermines Franklins moral values in “On Ben Franklins Virtues,” but he does so through writing too. He wants to document his own views, because he knows that writing will re-tell the past the way he wants it to be told. He wants the past to not be interpreted and spread by a white man alone. He wants his own viewpoint as a “dark forest” (367). I want to stress that writing consists of expressing how people want others to see themselves as individuals and as part of their people/s too.

Indeed, each race has its individuals. Lawrence is an individual and Franklin is too; they belong to their “groups,” whether these groups intersect or not. They can clash in their arguments of virtues and write about it, because that is part of shaping who they are. At the same time, they want to influence others, whether they are in the same racial community or not, so that they can make sense of their past as