Union Ridge Church


Monday, June 14, 2021

by Reverend Dan on June 14, 2021

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every purpose under heaven.”

                                                                                    Ecclesiastes 3:1

 

With all that’s going on in the world, there is one national debate raging that seems to have some folks cranked up. It’s that the school systems no longer teach . . . cursive writing.

 

I have a few questions.

 

First, is this the most important thing on your radar? Is it keeping you up at nights? If so, why? What is it about cursive writing that is important to any major world interests? Why was cursive writing even invented in the first place? Do other countries write in cursive?

 

Cursive writing began as a necessity in early cultures because it allowed the pen to remain on the paper longer and because of that the ink wouldn’t drop out of the quill. It was adopted in many languages not because it was easier to read, however, but because it didn’t take as long to write as using block letters. And it is definitely not the same as it’s always been. It has evolved and changed with time over centuries. (In fact, mine has evolved from “barely passing” to “barely readable” . . . and that’s on a good day!)

 

But let’s get back to the bottom line. Hand printing. Typesetting. Computers. Phones. Change is part of the march of time. The only thing the alleviation of cursive writing will affect is that feeling of opening a letter or note and knowing the person cared enough to take the time to write you personally. World safety is not at stake here. The progression of culture will not go backwards.

 

“But what if all the computers and phones and the internet all go down?” If that happens, I think we’ll have a lot more worries than not being able to write in cursive.

 

If we could all realize this all comes back to, “but that’s not the way we’ve always done it”, we’ll realize that writing cursive is simply another casualty of change. Things won’t be better . . . they won’t be worse. It will just be different.

 

Don’t sweat the small stuff. If you need to worry, worry about things that would change the world. Like if they lost the recipe for oatmeal cookies! AARRRGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Father open our eyes to a new day and a new way, always in Jesus’ nameAMEN.

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