The world can be a terrible place full of terrible people. It can be horrible and lonely and dark. People often don’t understand each other and we, as individuals and groups, can wind up feeling isolated and bitter. But what if I told you that making the world a better place is as easy as putting in thirty minutes a day?
The way I see it, so much of society’s hardships come from seeing differences and drawing lines between “us” and “them,” “insiders” and “outsiders.” When we see others as different from the norm, we shut them out and close doors to empathy and understanding. We don’t share our stories, and this is exactly where our faults lie. If we take thirty minutes a day to write—to share our stories—this world (and life) could be a little easier to navigate.
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Writing fosters empathy; writing nurtures understanding. Our stories, as different as they may be, all share common threads of humanity. No matter where we are from, no matter what forces mold our lives, as humans, we share love, suffering, and joy. We share the same underlying emotions. So it makes no sense that we allow discrepancies to dictate our relationships and understandings, especially when we are all ultimately made of G’s, A’s, T’s, and C’s. Through writing, we can share our stories in all their messy glory. If we share our distinctions, not only can we give others a better understanding of our differences (and why they don’t really matter that much), but we can help bridge the gaps between “us” and “them.”
In a world where much of what we grow up reading presents a couple of repetitive, choice narratives, so many people lack proper representation. Stereotypes and rumors and misunderstandings are born when we don’t write. For many entire social groups of people, we as Americans have a singular narrative we structure them as in our minds. These stereotypes and one-track narratives reduce people to flat characters. They are harmful and often degrading and tend to reinforce the boundaries of differences in our heads.
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If each of us spends some time writing—sharing our stories—we can infuse the world’s narrative with dimension. Minorities can present their own stories in which their oppressors deny them. If we write (and read from others, obviously) for thirty minutes a day, we can all see each other as more than two-dimensional strangers and unite in the human experience. We can become more understanding, more empathetic, more open.
So even if your vocabulary is limited and your syntax is repetitive, just write. Write because it’s your responsibility. Writing doesn’t have to be a task or a chore—it’s just putting some words on paper (or screen). Tell your story. It doesn’t have to be rife with metaphor and simile or be a literary masterpiece. Be it a novel, a short story, a paragraph on Facebook, or a sentence—write. Write because it’s good for the soul. Write so others can learn. Write because if we all write and read a few more paragraphs a day, it’ll make the world a better place.