Why I Write?

Why do I write?

My initial response was because my teacher told me to and because I want to maintain a good grade and some of us were candid and we told our truth, and that is exactly what writing is — your truth. Writing is different for all of us but here is why I write…

I write because writing is everywhere and writing is everything. Writing isn’t just your five hundred word, double spaced essay you submitted at 11:58 or the Sparknotes you used instead of reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Writing is the speech that Martin Luther King used to inspire change in America. Writing is the Bible that billions of people have looked to for guidance. Writing is also the information we are taking in that is keeping us six feet apart and masked.

Writing is all the things that are too much to just watch on TV. Writing is your own movie playing through your head. Writing is the song that never fails to put you in a good mood.

Writing is the pictures on the side of a cave and John Locke’s theory of natural rights and the United States Constitution and the 13th amendment and the newspaper announcing the assassination of President Kennedy. Writing is what came before you and what’s going to outlive you and what’s not going away any time soon.

Writing is a whole language created by 26 letters, 10 numbers, periods, commas, and the occasional semicolon. Writing is an artistic expression, a mathematical equation, a historical process, and a scientific balance.

The real question should be what isn’t writing and why wouldn’t I write?