On the Importance of Writing

Many of us take for granted the ability to wake up every morning to a job that we have been aspiring to since childhood. The little boy who built rockets out of wooden blocks becomes the engineer researching a way to send humanity to Mars. The little girl who liked to dissect pigs in biology class now saves countless lives as a neurosurgeon. The annoying child who was always arguing with his parents at the dinner table is called up now to defend his clients in court as a successful lawyer. But what of the little girl who liked to tell stories on the playground’s tire swing?

The writing profession has been on the verge of obsolescence since well before the introduction of the Internet. Indeed, try to think of how many times you’ve heard someone introduce themselves as a poet at a dinner table. Probably not many—if ever. And as ChatGPT and other AI platforms put an axe in many previously noteworthy careers, the ability to write well might be one of the first to be deemed “useless” by corporate professionals. One may ask, what is the point of writing well if the writer and English major is fundamentally unemployable?

But as I’ve learned in my time working teenagers and young professionals alike, the ability to write creatively is one of the core facets of and proxies for advanced intellectual development. Strong communication skills—one of many pillars of corporate success—are increasingly sparse, and the world needs more great writers not to shy away from their talents but to embrace them. 

It may be a naive dream to aspire to a world in which strong writers and communicators are as revered as their more technically-minded peers, but I believe that by learning to properly appreciate the art of the written word, we can move towards a status quo that values creative thinkers.

In the meantime, keep on writing.