Penmanship

I was having a nice talk with a friend today about handwriting because they have horrible handwriting and it can't be helped! I can't even get them to do a penmanship lesson with me. I know technology is so advanced now that everything is typed and paper and pens really don't have that much use unless you're in school or at work.

However, I'm an 80's baby and I haven't fallen behind with technology, but I certainly will not give up my love and passion of how a pen or pencil feels in my hand, the sound of it dancing across a notebook nor the smell of the ink on the paper. It's such a fragile thing that sound be treasured and preserved in my opinion.

My aunt used to coach me horribly with penmanship when I was in grade school as soon as i could read and write. She would have me sit in her kitchen and give me paper, pens and pencils and watched me copy line after line from books and words. She would hold my hand and guide it across the page slowly and elegantly like a dancer guiding a new student. Those memories are vivid and her touch on my hand can still be felt whenever i pick up my pen or pencil even now. She would hit my hand with a ruler when I made a mistake or a letter was crooked.

My love for penmanship started there and so did calligraphy. I love pressing down hardly on the paper hoping it would be engraved into the wood beneath. There is a Chinese tale that Confucius and many philosophers in ancient China were able to write so hardly that the calligraphy seeped through the paper and into the wooden table by three inches. It's a true story and there is a proverb and poem that describes how beautiful it was. I wanted to be able to do that as well.

Every letter, every word I write is treated delicately like my own child. I am very proud of my own penmanship and despite all the technology we have at our hands today. I don't think I would ever give up my penmanship or stop writing on paper. Penmanship allows one to develop patience and endurance and tolerance not only in penmanship but those traits can be transferred into how you face life as well.