Writing is a Responsibility

So many of us are making our way through the ever-changing circle of being an employed writer, becoming a writer, wanting to do it just for fun, and desperately hoping one day it could yield a career.

The world is full of writers using their talent to spread words, but unfortunately, they are not all words of encouragement or even the words of truth.

Don’t we as writers have a responsibility to bring truth to the written word?

Some of us dabble in fiction, so facts, realities and truths can and are altered.  However, what about the thousands of writers who work in the media who have an obligation to the public to bring both sides of a subject to light and find the truth in either side; often these writers forget their ethical training, overlook or plainly ignore the reality of their jobs.  They have a duty to bring the written word to the reader in an undistorted way.  Yes, sensationalism sells, but that is not what we, writers, set out to do.

In today’s society, we see writing, especially in the media, creating havoc, stirring unneeded tension in a world that has already witnessed enough sadness, crime, unjust realities and terror to last us millions of lifetimes.

In a society that turns to writers to gather information, truths, details, and a small glimpse of words given from one person to another, we must use the gift we have been given as writers to help not hinder.

Many of us are on the writer’s path because we love what we do, many of us are not making a dime stirring the caldron.  We should look to the future and be proud to bring to our readers hope and justice, not another reason to stir contempt and instability.  As writers, we have the power to unite people as a whole, not create more dispersions among the masses.

Use your gift to share stories, give hope and promote love and happiness.  Yes, we have the right to know what is happening in the world and even a duty to make sure we, society, stays alert to everything around us, but as writers, we have the duty to make sure that truth is not distorted into our own fabrication of reality.

Writing is a form of artistic expression, and it is meant to open the imagination and spring forth new ideas and inspire.  However, at what point are we held accountable for what we share.  It is not just writers who must be held responsible, photography is a slippery slope as well.  I, myself, have been known to experiment with Photoshop, but how far can you go?  It is one thing to create photography as an artist and another issue when photographers share their photos as truths, very distorted truths.

I write because I want to share with my readers not only real stories of hope and love, but fictional possibilities that are alive with my imagination.  However, I hold myself accountable for what I write, do you?