Respect Knives

I like knives. I find them simple, yet elegant (or perhaps elegant in its simplicity). I have studied their design, their manufacture, and practiced their uses anywhere from culinary to martial application. I am very particular about the quality of knife that I use and demand nothing short of exceptionally sharp and solid blades.

You may see me playing with my knives from time to time, but be very certain about one thing: I always respect the danger of those knives. A knife has a sole purpose, and that is to cut. It can cut lightly (scoring), it can cut deeply, or it can cut and remove entire sections. Although you can do many useful things with the aid of a blade, it is a tool of destruction (and the ones I use are exceptional at it).

Anything that has power is dangerous and everything that is dangerous should be respected. This includes writing.

Writing can be extremely dangerous. It can shape the beliefs of millions of people at once. It can change entire worldviews. It can actively incite people to act in a way you choose. And if you are not careful with your writing, it can actively incite people to act in a way totally unlike the way you choose.

Writing exists everywhere. It's not just in your fiction stories. It's not just in nonfiction and essays and blogs. Writing exists in business. Writing exists in emails and text messages and scripts. And all of this writing can be dangerous. You write the wrong thing in an email and you can cause a huge fight. You send a text message to the wrong person and you could go to jail.

Respect writing, in all its forms, for all its applications, in the same way you need to respect a knife. If you don't, you will eventually get cut.