WHY I WRITE

I write to mobilize.

That sentence has been reverberating through my head since I was tasked with answering the question of “why I write.” During the past few weeks, I have come to understand why I find that question to be so powerful. Writing has the proven power to change the world. It has the power to foster love, and spread hate. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to do tremendous good, and also to fuel war and animosity. I write because the words I put on paper have the potential to revolutionize society.

To say that I grew up in a politically aware community would be a gross understatement. I was raised in Santa Monica, potentially one of the most liberal cities in America, so much so that you could count the amount of outspoken Republicans at my high school on one hand. My parents are the founders of a Jewish community in Los Angeles of which the central focus is social justice. The rabbi of the congregation is outspoken in her political opinions, an uncommon feat among her colleagues. Lastly, I like to play a game where I time how long it takes for politics to be brought up at family meals. It normally ranges between 30 seconds to 2 minutes, if that.

When I was about 7 years old, in 2008, my mom, cousin and I went to Ohio in the first week of November to go door to door getting the vote out. In that moment, when I was still 11 years away from voting, I personally felt the responsibility of getting Barack Obama elected. In the same year, California was also voting on a proposition against gay marriage. I walked around my school with a “no on prop 8” pin and attended a rally at the Los Angeles Federal Building in support of gay marriage. When election day finally came I woke up early with my dad, walked to the polling station with him and like I did for every election, stamped the ballot myself and wore the “I voted” sticker with pride.

All of this is to say why I write to instigate change. While I would love to say that I have written a piece that has been instrumental in giving women the right to their own body, or eliminated police brutality or made a Muslim ban out of the question, I haven’t. But every time I write, I do so with that intention. I put pen to paper with the hopes that one day my words will do those things.

I write because I hope to string together a group of words in a way that is eloquent, compelling and transformational, because I have been transformed by writing. In the post-Biblical Jewish text called “The Teachings of the Fathers,” there is a specific teaching that deeply resonates with me and is a guiding force in how I lead my life. Rabbi Tarfon writes, “It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either.” So, while I might not be able to eradicate racism alone in my lifetime, I am going to do everything in my power to do so, because that is what this teaching has engraved into my head.

I write to counteract the hateful, malicious, and negative language that has pervaded the world in my lifetime and so that hate is met with love, and negativity with positivity. Hopefully my words can bring clarity and nuance to complicated and challenging issues. I hope through my writing, I create conversation, I spark innovation or I anger someone so much so that they feel inspired to do something about it.

I write because I have seen what the power of writing and power of language have done and can do to this world. I have been personally touched by people’s words and thoughts. I have been moved and infuriated. I have laughed, cried and screamed. I have pondered and I have dwelled over. I have been exposed to the tremendous strength and sway that writing can have. I write because I want to light a fire under someone to spark change, because I want to evoke a range of emotions, because I have been transformed by a sentence, so maybe one of my sentences can do the same for someone else.

I write to create social change. I write because I have been taught that it is my job and my responsibility to bridge the chasm between the world as it is and the world as it should be.

I write to ensure that Planned Parenthood has funding. I write so that dreamers aren’t deported. I write so that women don’t have to jump through hoops to get birth control. I write so that it is illegal to discriminate against someone for their sexual or gender preferences. I write so that every person in this country and elsewhere is treated with dignity and respect.

I write to mobilize.