Yeserday morning the house felt a little on the cool side. I checked the thermometer in the living room that measures both the inside and outside temperatures. WHAAT !!!!!! It got down to 36 degrees last night. I’m sorry……. It is not even November yet. I refuse to turn on the heat. IT IS NOT IN MY BUDGET……it is right before Halloween ……we have all this trick or treat stuff to get….. How can we disappoint all the little kids and tell them, sorry we had to pay the electric and gas company the money we usually use to buy your goodies. I will just have to put on my fleece wear and suck it up.
We already have started gathering the treats…… the snack packs of various kinds of chips, those cheese and cheddar cracker packs, some popcorn packages, packages of hot chocolate, and I even found some decorator pencils while in the basement yesterday….what young child wouldn’t like a sparkly colored pencil.. do they still use pencils, is learning how to write still taught in our schools ? To see some of the handwriting of some adults, I think penmanship was stopped a long time ago.
I have seen some handwriting that looks like art….. just beautiful! Oh how I wish my handwriting was better. I remember bringing home many report cards, penmanship – D….. just above failing. What happened that my writing was so bad…. Didn’t I learn to hold my pencil correctly, I think I learned how to color inside the lines, why can’t I make my letter look pretty (and legible) As I think back, the Bic pen wasn’t even invented yet or was it just not affordable to the likes of my family – only for the wealthy. I believe it was in fifth grade , we could only use a fountain pen….. yes ….. a pen that you had to fill the ink into a little tube. (Gosh am I dating myself) and they had little nibs that went on to the end of the pen – kind of like the pens you use if you do calligraphy - just don’t mess up that nib. And the school would only let you use a particular color of ink…. Was it indigo ?...(oh no, I don’t remember, I just remember you NEVER wanted to get that ink anywhere but in that pen ) If you were really lucky (and had the money), you could use one of those pens that had little plastic cartridges that came pre-filled with ink. (Wasn’t that a Parker Pen) Just pop that little cartridge in…. no bothering with pulling out the ink jar and pulling the little lever on the pen barrel to fill the reservoir.
Your pen was your special tool It was to you, what a paint brush was to an artist or a musician’s instrument. You made sure you knew where it was… You cared for it, you may even have had it rebuilt if necessary. I still love special pens, I remember a repair man taking a pen that I received as a birthday gift once. I made the guy come back…. I didn’t want the money to buy another one. I wanted the pen I received as a gift. While although I prefer to type on a keyboard….. I can write faster and it is easier to read…… DON”T TAKE MY PEN – especially…. My special pen. Take one of those cheap, disposable, clone pens…. The ones your can get 12 for $1….who cares, everyone looks the same. I feel special when I use my special pen…. I think about what I want to write and I try to form my letters carefully… (but I still think I would get a D)…. But I know you can read it.
A guy was explaining some of the features of his new phone today…… he gave it a command….. It responded with the answer back.. I know there are computer programs now that will automatically write what you speak. Technology is just moving too fast….. (hey, maybe he could talk to that piece of paper that he filled out that I can’t read what he wrote and readable letters will automatically appear)
I shutter to think that the pen and pencil may someday go by the way of LP records, 8-track tapes, or beta-max recordings. The pen may be mightier than the sword BUT I think technological advances may be even mightier.
So as the little children come to my house on Halloween, and if they are lucky enough to get one of these flashy looking pencils, I hope they can look back someday and remember the writing instrument they received instead of a piece of candy. I hope they will bring it to class and maybe, just maybe, they will be able to use this tool to learn how to form their letters and words that look like art (and that can be read easily). And hopefully get a better grade than a D.
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