Good news! I don’t have any kids on my lawn I need to chase off. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t have some middle-age rants from time to time. This is one of them.
I heard a phrase the other day from a middle school student that rocked my world – “I don’t know how to read cursive.” I was flabbergasted, chagrined, and shook all at the same time. Don’t know how to read cursive?! Ms. Fortunato – my second grade teacher – would have scheduled a parent-teacher meeting faster than I could ask for seconds on pizza day in elementary school.
Yet here we are. We’ve arrived at a destination that in my opinion shouldn’t have even been on the map. Let me be clear – I realize I’m late to this cursive party. I imagine that teachers’ lounges across the country have been abuzz with this shocking news for years.
Sure, I know that cursive can be almost illegible, painful-to-write, smeared-on-the-page words. But it can also be beautiful, heartfelt, creative penmanship that give a glimpse of the person who is writing those same words.
My cursive is legible, but it also stalled at some point. My style hasn’t seemed to evolve all that much since that same elementary school (at least according to my sister, who finds my cursive writing ‘cute’). And I don’t do it all that often, but I do use it at least once a day.
See, when I write in my Jesus journal each morning after spending time with Him, I write whatever verses from the Bible in cursive and my thoughts in normal print (which also may have stalled along the way). For me, it’s a way to see the sharp contrast between what God is saying and what I am saying. The different types of handwriting have meaning to me.
This morning, I even heard about a large company that is looking to hire people who can read, write and understand cursive writing. Why? Because so much of what has happened in history was written down by people who primarily wrote in…wait for it…cursive. So basically a ‘translator’ those documents to make them digital, they are hiring people with this skill set.
A skill set that I started learning when I was around 7-years-old. No, I’m not applying for the job, but the story triggered this rant 😉
So there you have it. Nothing deep. Nothing that will likely cause you much agita or to lose sleep. But maybe one young person will read this typed blog, Google the word ‘cursive’, and take the first steps towards using it some in their own life while also helping preserve this fading skill for the next generation.
Kids, don’t get off my lawn, but do learn how to write the phrase in cursive. Rant over.