"My heart is stirred by a noble theme,
as I sing my ode to the king.
My tongue is the pen of a nimble scribe."
Psalm 45
In 1985 I was told in a corporate meeting of insurance executives that by the year 1995 all insurance offices would be completely paperless. In 2014 my wife and I changed insurance brokers and went to the office broker's office to get our quotes and sign up for our new carrier. After being handed several papers, we were finally asked to sign several forms made of....paper! So much for a paperless society. Why I realize that paper has been supplanted in many areas of our lives with smart phones, computers and tablets, there is much yet to be said for the lowly pen and paper. And some of what needs to be said may lead us to living our Catholic faith in a more deliberate manner. Skeptical? Please just hear me out.
There is great power in the written word. Books, flyers, blogs, articles and even social media attest to this power. But there is far greater power in the HAND written word. Today, as in Christ's day, the Torah scrolls (Sefer Torah)of the Jewish synagogues are hand written by modern scribe. The very task of writing the scroll is considered a religious act; a holy act. The ink, the pen and the parchment must all meet strict standards of Jewish law going back to ancient times. When Pontius Pilate was criticized by the Jewish chief priests for writing a sign to go above the head of Jesus on the cross that said he was King of the Jews, Pilate Replied: " Quod scripsi, scripsi" ("what I have written, I have written") Jn 19:22. Pilate new the power of the written word.
Even in the secular world we have reverence for hand written documents. Our founding father could easily of handed both the Declaration of Independence and later the Constitution to the famed printer Benjamin Franklin for printing and signed the printed copies. They chose not to do so. The power of a document purposely written by hand, with out interference of technology, makes a bold statement. Almost as bold as the famed signature of John Hancock which sits so prominently at the center of the Declaration of Independance!
Even today, with all of the technology, people still collect the authentic signatures of famous people; both living and dead. A signature, no matter how imperfect, is a true relic of the person who made it. In 2013, United States Treasure Jack Lew took a great deal of heat over his totally illegible and non-nonsensical "loopy" signature and changed it to better suit the important task of having his signature on our money. As society we could not allow such a poor representation adorn our currency.
We should take pride in our written word, our penmanship and out signature. It is a part of us in a way that no technological intermediary could be. To set our hand to paper is even more important than what we say, in some ways, and deserves more care. What we write is a testimony to our words. When we say words, they can be lost to poor memory or the poor hearing of the audience. When we actually take pen to paper, in our own hand, we make our own statement: What I have written, I have written! No one can claim it was texted or sent by an unknown hacker, tweeted by someone with a ghost account in order to harm us. It is ours and any good handwriting expert can defend or prove that.
How much more does a written note make to the recipient? To listen to popular culture, nothing. Yet, a young man came into my office lately and said how much his grandmother's written letter mean to him. This younger generation seems to be coming around to a greater appreciation of thank you cards. I can personally attest to that. And if the number of fountain pens recently for sale at my local Staples is any indication, it seems writing is making a comeback in this age of technology.
Like the Jewish scribe, if we are to write at all we should chose our pen with care. Disposable cheap pens have always bothered me. For one thing they are cheap and therefore never seem to give the best feel or results. They do the job, just not well. Second, they are disposable. I dare to say that billions of pens now litter our landfills, sewers, empty lots and sofa cushions because they are of no importance. They are just junk to be replaced. Why should we worry about them? If they are lost or tossed, just get a new one. Right? What a waste of plastic, ink, fuel for shipping, electricity for manufacturing, packaging and all the rest!
In my desk is my great-grandfather's Eversharp fountain pen. After nearly 100 years I still use it. It has been refurbished two times and still writes as well as the day it was bought. This single pen has been used and treasured by four generations of my family and will be passed to one of my children. Because it has value, it causes each of it's owners to care for it and treasure it. Care is taken not to lose it. It does not contribute to waste because it lasts. Each time it dries up, it is washed and refilled. And when the bottle of ink has run dry after dozens of refills, it is placed in recycling with the other glass and becomes a new bottle. One bottle of ink lasts longer than a dozen or more disposables.
You see for me, there is a spirituality to writing and to my pens. Because they are of value and meant to last, I am more aware that they are to be cared for. They are not simply to be replaced due to carelessness or the inability to refill or repair them. If they break, they go to the Pen Hospital In New York for repair. As Pope Francis reminds us, we are to be good stewards of the earth. I am afraid that our valueless pens are anything but.
A good pen, well chosen, is also good for penmanship. If I am going to affix my signature to anything, it should represent me well. A good pen means that my signature is the best representation of self that I can make. And by the same logic, if it means enough to me to write another person so as to truly and deeply share my thoughts with them, in this most intimate way, then they should also get the very best written product I can produce. They are sons and daughters of God, they deserve nothing less.
In short, the spirituality of the pen is nothing more, or less, than one additional step towards leading a deliberate life. One that thinks about what is best for and cares about God's creation: human and planetary.
Please let me know what you think.
