Since the beginning of time, words have empowered writers.

From the symbols and pictures of our prehistoric ancestors to the printed pages from our modern computers, we have always expressed ourselves in some form of the written word.

In mediaeval England, Town Criers, dressed in colourful livery and reading from parchment scrolls, shouted out important news and events to eager townspeople, most of whom couldn’t read or write.

And Associated Press bureau chief Terry Anderson, kidnapped by Shiites in Lebanon during the eighties and held hostage for almost seven years, kept himself sane while in prison, by writing thirty-two poems “in his head” and memorizing them!

On the day his fellow hostages, Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland, were released, Anderson was given pen, paper and one hour to write. He scribbled down eleven of his memorized poems for the freed prisoners to take to his wife. 

“The power of the pen” can educate, entertain, encourage, inform, censor, regulate, adjudicate, persuade, proclaim, help, guide, inspire, praise and endear.

You can greatly assist a worthy cause or a person in need, by writing press releases. You may not get paid for your piece, but your local newspapers will often give you a by-line.
And when there’s a burning issue that urgently needs to be addressed, write the media.

You can also use your articles, short stories, poems, plays or novels to voice a concern. Just make sure you’re objective and don’t force your views on the reader.

The theme of a story can yield much power. Instead of writing a “preachy” article, condemning drug dealers, drugs and everyone who’s a user, feature a young addict (with their permission, of course). Show the negative effects of drugs on their life and the lives of those nearest and dearest to them. 

The story could end with the young person either kicking the habit, still struggling with it, or being resigned to a life of no hope. Throw in some facts and figures and your words will speak for themselves.

Bring a little laughter into the world. Comedy writing brings much joy to others, whether in books, plays, movies or sitcoms, and your “funny” prose or rhymes will uplift your readers in times of despair.

Sadly, the “power of the pen” can also be used in harmful ways. Terrorists have learned from evil manuals how to maim and kill; cults twist the words of the Bible to entrap new members; some links on the Internet lead the innocent to pornography, sadism and hatred.

But the positive words of writers, past and present, outweigh the negative.

Dr. Ben Carson came from a broken home in the black ghettos of Detroit. As a boy, he had a fierce temper, bad grades and low self-esteem. When he nearly failed the fifth grade, his mother, who’d had a limited education, sent Ben and his brother to the public library on a regular basis, demanded that they read two books a week and limited their television viewing. Mrs. Carson also made the boys turn in book reports to her.

At first, Ben resented his mother’s new rules! Then he came to realize that through books, he could go anywhere in the world and do anything he desired.

Dr. Ben Carson is now Director of Paediatric Neurosurgery at John Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, U.S.A., and is considered one of the world’s top brain surgeons. He uses the “power of the pen” himself to encourage and inspire others. His books “Gifted Hands”, “Think Big” and “The Big Picture” made the bestseller lists.

Words can soothe us or excite us; make us happy or sad; romantic or bitter; remember the past or look to the future; drive us into battle or make us stand up for peace.

However you use your gift of writing, use it wisely, for YOU have the “Power of the Pen”!

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