“Killing a rat that is holed up inside an earthen pot requires wisdom.” – Nigerian proverb
When Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, wrote that “the pen is mightier than the sword,” little did he know he had simplified a truism that sages and poets had been struggling to make the world appreciate. It was not surprising that within a year, the saying gained so much currency, it become commonplace and till date is one of the most adored quotes. The saying makes clear the notion that ideas are stronger than armies can ever be. Words, written down in any form, can change minds and social structures. And history has taught us that the written word always survives and transcends even the bloodiest events. It is more interesting when you realise that it even takes the humble pen to record and make known the exploits of the sword.
The sword, fashioned and sharpened with the intent of ‘war’ woven into it; does a good job of instilling fear amongst people. And in most cases, it does spread violence, because it has the advantage of whipping people into line in the short term. But that is all that the sword has and can do. On the other hands, words, and especially written ones inspires ideas and ideals and spreads them. It is words that win the hearts and minds of people; and inspires new ways of thinking and acting. That is what makes the pen mightier. It even takes words to make the sharpness of swords, blunt.
It is true that swords are at the root of the ‘mightiness’ of nations and some individuals. Nevertheless, it is the pen that determines whether the world will would ever see them as great. A stroll through history reveals how nations who were labelled as empires had great writers as well. They needed the writings of their citizenry to win the hearts and minds of the people their swords cowered into submission. Without their writings, it was always easier for the conquered people to rebel and disrupt their authority. With swords they limited what people could do, but with the writings of their pens, they influenced how the people they had limited thought about them.
As a developing nation, we need the pen to influence how the populace appreciates who we are, and where we are going. We need a lot of writings to get the people to believe in themselves, so that they can rouse themselves out of the dependency mentality inhibiting their greatness. We need the pen to spread the ideas and ideals we have long dreamed of. The influence of the pen is greater than that of the greatest general. That is why our fathers always said, “the mind is like palm oil, when it lies still we heat it up.” It is time to heat the minds of our people. It is time to encourage more and more individuals to embrace the pen, instead of the sword.
The pen always wins because life itself was birthed out of words. The creationist theory tells us that; “in the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the Word was God.” It was this Word that spoke forth all of creation, beginning with “let there be…” The theory also reveals that, “not one thing in all creation was made without the Word;” and this includes the sword. That is why even what the sword does, is dictated by what words we tell ourselves.
The human heart was carved in freewill. It soars when it is allowed to make its own choices. The sword is generally used by the weak to strive to control the physical movements of the strong. But no matter the amount of fear it instils, it cannot control our greatest freedom, the freedom of thought. Even with the sword pressed against our heads, it cannot inspire us to think differently.
In our world today, where nations are in a mad race for deadly weapons to annihilate other nations, our hope lies in the words we utter and write to each other and about ourselves. This does not mean writing is easy. It is far from that. The multiplicity of our values and opinions reminds us that there will always be contradictions, and sometimes complicated conflicts, about what we write. Nevertheless, it is the task of all of us to write down the values of our thoughts, and the aspirations of our ideals; because every life is an act of self-creation.
We choose whether to be mighty or weak when we choose whether to write or to pick up a sword. Since ultimately, we all aspire for greatness, we need to write to make our individualities appreciated and we need to write to make nation great and strong. Writing opens all the possibilities and to all routes, directly or indirectly. But it involves work, and lots of research. It is not for the faint-hearted, but for the heart that is not scared of fainting. Your responsibility entails writing it down so that it can serve as the conduit that makes our dreams possible.
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Kodwo Brumpon is a partner at Brumpon & Kobla Ltd, a forward-thinking Pan African management consultancy and social impact firm driven by data analytics, with a focus on understanding the extraordinary potential and needs of organisations and businesses to help them cultivate synergies, that catapults into their strategic growth, and certifies their sustainability.
Comments, suggestions, and requests for talks and training should be sent to him at kodwo@brumponand kobla.com
