He­len Ma­hadeo

Lev­el 2 Stu­dent

First I must ask, What is Pow­er? The abil­i­ty to do or act.

What is the Pen? An in­stru­ment for writ­ing.

How can the pen show its pow­er? By writ­ing in­for­ma­tion.

Be­cause of the pow­er of the pen peo­ple can go in­to li­braries and get writ­ten sto­ries, po­et­ry and mu­sic. They ex­press emo­tions good or bad in songs or let­ters.

The pow­er in the pen has record­ed da­ta from long ago, da­ta to in­form us about our ori­gin, our fore­fa­thers, his­to­ry of our­selves, peo­ple and places etc.

The pow­er in the pen, is help­ing peo­ple in their eco­nom­ics by earn­ing a liv­ing in writ­ing books etc.

The pow­er is in the pen, when you can write your name or fill out a form or even a sim­ple note or let­ter.

It gives you a re­al good feel­ing, or even sign­ing a se­ri­ous thing like a le­gal doc­u­ment; no one can doubt you be­cause it is black and white. The pen can al­so be de­struc­tive.

What­ev­er is writ­ten is long last­ing and can be a bless­ing or a curse. It can de­stroy you or build you. It can be de­struc­tion to your rep­u­ta­tion and as­sas­si­na­tion to your char­ac­ter. Much like Maruge from the sto­ry of the First Grad­er, Maruge used his pen­cil to help the six-year-old boys and girls in his class to write their al­pha­bet and num­bers; and that's why he has the au­thor­i­ty to say or re­mind the world that the pow­er is in the pen.

Play your part to build lit­er­a­cy. If you have time, vol­un­teer to be an AL­TA tu­tor, a Read­ing Cir­cle guide or to as­sist stu­dents on the com­put­er. If your time is al­ready booked, spon­sor an AL­TA stu­dent for the year (TT$500). Call 624-AL­TA (2582) or email al­tatt@ya­hoo.com