Should we read or write?

Since Man's invention of letters, man learned to read also. Since then the Sun rose and set uncountable times. Man still reads. And some do write also. Both use the same letters and words.

The papyrus have given way to newsprint and now to the digital medium. Still the words remain the same! Letters look the same! Even the basic meaning remain the same! Is that a wonder?

Since the invention of letters, the waters in the Euphretes and the Tigris ran non-stop. The river Nile still runs caressing its banks. So is the life we live. But do we live the life of the Sumerians who invented the alphabets? Definitely not. Life has changed a lot. It has changed the face of this planet. But not the planet of words.

Why the words look the same despite the changes through centuries? Why their meanings look the same all through the ages? Why most of the men remain as readers than as the few writers?

Sir Francis Bacon said:"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man." Very true, for the Man of his times. Not for the Man of today. Today man reads. Seldom he writes. If some does, he copies what others did in the past. Nothing new. Life in the planet of letters still remain pre-historic.

There is no poetry in poems. There is no drama in drama. There is no story in fiction. There is nothing novel in novel. There is no Life in words of today!

Is it the readers who create writers? Or is it the writers who create readers? Is both reciprocal? Then how come the seed first and the tree later?

Confusion rules the thinking faculty of men today. There is no perfect answer to anything in the world. Even Science fails before getting itself established. But Life seldom fails. Neither words. Not meanings either.

Confusion rules the very life of ours today. We tend to think complex. We have no time for the finer and simpler things in life. We do not have time for simple words and their pregnant meanings.

Did I say 'pregnant meanings'? Word is dynamic in its message. Its message is its meaning. As the Life changes, meanings also do change within the boundaries of a word. That is culture.

As men get confused they seek words for solace. They start reading. Some start to write to seek a vent for their bottled up emotions. Both use words. But not a word with new life! All they read or write are words that look like the eyes of a dead fish.

Still all want to read. Even writers do read. That is why we buy books and newspapers. We sell old books and newspapers as junk. Do we sell old words as junk?
We buy books, subscribe newspapers and listen to media to see the words we knew. We do all this to repeat the junk sales. We help them create money by selling dead words.

Do we 'read' for ourselves? Do we 'write' for our own satisfaction? Do we 'live' for ourselves?

It is high time that we should stop reading. It is high time that we should stop looking for 'new life' in old words. Look at our kids. They have stopped 'reading' before they knew what Life is. They do not know how many alphabets are there in their own mother tongue.

Are we reading again?