Words Have the Power to Save Lives [Power of Words]
This blog (Word Zeal) is all about words. Words can be fun and words can be powerful.
The best words, however, create action or alter emotion.
Usually I talk about creative writing on this blog. Today I’m going to use words in a different way. Instead of encouraging you to play with them—poetry, flash fiction, art—I’m going to ask you to consider using your words to support human rights.
Please join me and make a difference today…bring your words, and we’ll work to save lives.
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I’ve been thinking about letters a lot lately, even though I can’t remember the last time I received or sent one. I’m feeling a bit nostalgic, but mostly I think letters contain a certain magic that other forms do not.
An old magazine that contained letters.
This morning, I read how a blogger/poet/fiction writer named Angela E J Koh receives letters from her readers. She’s good, so she deserves them. After reading her blog post I thought, How nice would that be to receive a letter in the mail from a reader, even if it were criticism.
Then later today I read a short blog post from Paper Darts magazine that mentioned letters. In this post, Courtney Davison encourages writers to writer letters if they want to be famous one day. (This literary publication could make a great gift for writers and creatives. I wrote about it earlier.)
As Courtney points out, letters were once highly important. Now, we communicate in much shorter lengths. Of course, I’m on Twitter too, but I think people should write more letters. Actually people should write more overall to investigate their thoughts and to show themselves to others. And letters always seem to open me up more. Sometimes it’s best to write them without ever sending them.
Now on to some letters you should send. The next part of this post is what matters.
Amnesty International USA Encourages People to Write Letters to Save Lives Dec. 10
December 10 is International Human Rights Day. On this day, thousands of people come together to write letters that can bring freedom to forgotten prisoners, to make sure the rights of individuals are respected, protected and fulfilled.
This is the world’s largest letter writing event. Find out how you can participate at the Amnesty International website.
Will you use your words to make a difference? Best time to send letters is Dec. 4 through 12. Write your letters now.
Or maybe you know of another good way to use words for good?
By the way, if you haven’t been on this blog before and you’re a writer, you might like my post about some awesome notebooks for writers, which are the kinds of things I actually enjoy receiving as gifts. They make a great platform for writing letters.
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Photo Credit: Tyrenius on Wikipedia
Word Zeal is a place for poets and word lovers. It exists to celebrate words and writing and to help writers survive the difficulty of the writing life. We focus on poetry, short fiction and experimental writing forms.
The email e-letter is launching soon (and it will be even more awesome if you join). Lindsay Oberst is the writer and word zealot who created and runs this blog.
Tags: #write4rights, lindsay oberst, power of words, why write letters, write for rights, writing for human rights day, writing letters
