The Writings on the Wall

A teacher's first words to you will make you determine if you like that particular teacher or not, and if that teacher likes or dislikes you. My Ordinary Level Math teacher’s first words to me were, “Your handwriting is worse than a boy’s!” To add insult to injury, she was talking about my first page of a book neat and perfect handwriting.

During a class, my science teacher was reading through my notes. He frowned at one point, and pointing to a word, asked me what I had written. Having spent several seconds trying in vain, to figure the word out, I told him that even I didn’t understand what I had written.

I admit that my letters are mere shapes or strokes of a pen sometimes. They rarely resemble proper letters. My neatest letters were in Tamil, and this was mainly because I was learning the language and our Tamil teacher didn’t appreciate untidy books. My Sinhalese letters are more awkward and most of my school books were covered in incomplete letters that looked worse than what a five year old would write. My English letters are like scribbles, and I have to put in a lot of effort to write in such a way that another can read it.

In no way am I ashamed of my handwriting. Sure, my mother’s letters are round and properly spaced and my brother’s looks like tiny ants on paper. Yet, I do my father and grandmother proud with my hard to read writing. So I can claim to have it in my genes and I am still to make an effort to write neatly.

The issue I have is simple. Why do people judge another by his or her writing? My math teacher was implying two things by those first words; one, a female’s writing is like a beautiful painting on a canvas and two, males cannot write neatly.

I’ve seen men with handwriting so neat and proper, that they seem to have been born with a pen in their hand. I’ve also seen men write as if they were writing on sandpaper while being in a moving vehicle. Women too, can either fill a page with neat letters or make it seem like a toddler had fun scribbling on it. So, can the sex of a person determine their writing?

Personalities are more likely to explain an individual’s handwriting. I am a messy and untidy person and this extends to my letters. My mother is calm and extremely neat, and her personality too extends to her writing. The internet being a place of many hidden treasure, offers many explanations of personality based on one’s writing. These look beyond size and shape and include the flow of writing too.

Yet, one’s writing doesn’t always look the same. The when, how, where, with what, on what as well your mood will determine how your letters look. Since the days of letter writing and note taking are slowly dying, ones handwriting isn’t as important. This has sadly led to handwriting going from bad to worse, and if ever letter writing is given more attention, people will spend more time trying to figure out the sender’s writing than the time spent on actually writing and posting the letter.

Neat, tidy, perfectionist, sloppy, messy or lazy, handwriting will paint a good enough picture about an individual and on his or her personality. While this can lead to a lot of wrong judgments, I would rather stick to my illegible writing than work towards writing like a proper lady.

http://www.nation.lk/edition/lifestyle/item/17696-the-writings-on-the-wall.html