Ter Scott Promotes!: "I, Pencil" Ter Scott's Thoughts Part 1

“I, Pencil” By Lenard E. Read

My thoughts on great thoughts.

This is a part of a series; please return to read more as they are published.

I read this sometime as a young man and it made such an impression on me and many times I have thoughts that lead me back to this article by Leonard E. Read so that I just had to find it, read it again and now to share it with my readers along with my additional thoughts that it provokes. I will share this in “chunks” and comment on it before sharing more chunks of paragraphs over time here. If you would like to read the article in its entirety you can download it at my site for free. CLICK HERE. www.terscott.com/books. I would strongly suggest that you view the original article because it speaks a bit about the author, his thoughts and offers and introduction and after thoughts. You will probably find them as interesting or more than I did.

Let’s get started.

I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that’s all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery— more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. Chesterton observed, “We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”

Ter’s Comments:

I will share thoughts garnered from my life experiences, coaching and consulting practice which is in the areas of Life and Legacy™ (for individuals) and Bricks to Clicks Marketing™ (for business owners).

Ter Scott, "Bricks to Clicks MarketingConsultant"™

I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me—no, that’s too much to ask of anyone—if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because—well, because I am seemingly so simple.

Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one I, and one-half billion of my kind produced in the U.S.A. each year.

Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye—there’s some wood, lacquer, the printed labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an eraser.

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OK, let’s take a look at this. The author is speaking through the voice of an object, a pencil which is something that I agree, we do take it for granted. And granted, with the change of technology having us using pens more than pencils (can you remember the last time you actually picked up and used a “pencil”?) and any choice of all of the digital gadgets like smartphones and tablets, pencils seem destined now to reside in our desk drawers and used only occasionally. But the point is clear and can be applied to other objects we use. The pencil was deceptively simple in design; just wood, lead (carbon) and eraser and our gadgets which have evolved since still should have us asking, how was this made, why was this made and other questions. Questions lead to answers and answers lead to new things and new inventions and ways of doing things!

Everything in life is quite simple if we take the time to think about it and break it down into its parts. When we know this, we can then be confident in finding answers to “problems” of any kind. There all so many things in life but only a few “formulas” which are applied to all of these many things. Today take a close look at a pencil (or a cellphone or tablet); really look at it. Take 5 minutes and write down a few questions about it. Then research and find those answers. Just as a complex automobile, airplane or dishwasher (as the author states) may not be able to profoundly answer your question that the simple pencil, you’ll still be on your way to opening your creativity in other areas.

Explore. Enjoy.

Please return here as we continue I, Pencil in future articles!

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