This is one of the essays i read from the GP essay book.

Here goes:

The pen is mightier than the sword. Can written language really be so powerful?

If one had flipped through the pages of a History textbook, one would find above anything else, conflict and war. The pen and the sword are two very different methods by which we come into, and deal with, conflict. In this light, it seems that to say that the pen is mightier than the sword would be the equivalent of heresy - words cannot hurt your flesh, they can only harm your mind, whilst a sword can literally pierce through your heart.

The pages of History are littered with attempts to use forces to prove ourselves "mightier" than one other. Great revolutions in the history of mankind have, most of the time, been carried out through rampage, and bloodshed. It seems that the mere drawing of the sword pushes wars to new levels. Or at least that is what man chooses to believe. During ancient times, it seemed clear to Man that the answer to question of peace and development was the Sword. Forgetting Christ's appeal for unity in the Church, most of Christian Europe was embroiled in crusades - religious military campaigns - waged against external and internal opponents. The French Revolution that gave birth to the respectable principles of nationalism, citizenship and inalienable rights, was forged in violent turmoil as well. How did Word War Two end "peacefully?" With a large sword - the Atomic Bomb.

The employment of words and the written language to mitigate or dissolve conflicts therefore seems pointless. It may seem overly idealistic to even think that the pen can overpower the sword in any way. The Munich Agreement was a written document meant to buy peace prior to World War Two. But it only lasted for a few months before war broke out again. History seems to have taught us that if we trust the Pen, our faith would be invested in passivity and inactivity. This faith would waste away into lost hope as long as someone takes action before we do, as long as any other person chooses to harness the power of the Sword, that is to use the power of action against mere words. It seems impossible for us to believe that the Pen can be more powerful than the Sword because words without action simply cannot triumph over the sheer force of action. The "Sword" is a modification of the spear head, which was after all, created for damage and destruction.

Nevertheless, the ramifications of mere words is essentially how much we make out of it. The fact that words can sometimes inflict a wound deeper than the sharpest sword can manage might render them more powerful than sheer force. In Othello, the famous line "it is not words that shake me thus" breathed by Othello before the finally falls into a trance reeks of irony. It is the mind games and the wordplay of Iago that makes the play a tragedy. This only goes to show how words can not just hurt emotionally but if used well enough, can even bring about physical damage.

We would note though, that the Pen can only be mightier than the Sword if the pen is an educated one. As Man becomes increasingly knowledgeable and learned, he also becomes more able to unlock the power of the written word, bringing the hopes of Bulwer Lytton, Shakespearse and Thomas Jefferson to life. Modern man chooses to educate his children the pen, not the sword. Some ancient civilisations priortised military superiority over "bookish" education and perished without leaving real legacies behind. According to Jared Diamond's Gun, Gems and Steel, the main reason why the mighty Inca empire was defeated by a much smaller Spanish army of conquistadors and reduced to a mere footnote in history is because the Spanish drew upon the power of written information derived from the great libraries of Europe. The Incas had not developed basic literacy nor record keeping in their civilisation - the written word was not yet perceived as a useful technology in their culture. Leveraging on extensive written records of successful past military stratagems and documentation of foreign weapons technology (i.e the use of steel to forge lighter weapons and armour), the Spanish thus smashed through tens of thousands of Inca warriors whose comparatively clumsy weapons and armour could not hold up to the onslaught.

Ultimately, when powerful words enshrining out most powerful ideals emerge from the pens of passionate and dedicated individuals, whole armies of ordinary people can be raised to change the status quo forever. Some of our most gifted writers have been our most gifted orators. BY adding the compelling power of speech and personal charisma on top of their written words ,the pen's ability to neutralise the sword can be multiplied manifold. Marin Luther King Jr.'s most memorable speech "I Have a Dream"inspired generations of white and black Americans to lay aside centuries of radical animosity. William Wilberforce's treatise "On the Abolition of the Slave Trade" penned in 1789 was arguably the main reason why we no longer accept the sight of men in chains as a norm. Wilberforce's and King Jr.'s convictions and beliefs and fighting for peace and justice were themselves influenced by the spoken words of Jesus Christ. written and passed down faithfully by early Christian apostles. From the ancient Jewish books of Joel, Micah, and Isaiah, both men found and fought for the promised day when "swords would be beaten into plowshares" and "spears into pruning hooks," where "nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (Isiah 2:4)

The pen epitomises patience and virtue while the sword is synonymous with rashness and aggression. The latter is unabashedly human, direct and swift while the former inspires humanity to attain what is good and is thus able to deliver messages with equal, if not more, fervour, depth and long-lasting impact than the other. Perhaps Man should use the Pen to restrain and the guide the passion of the Sword. Let words be the steering wheel of our vehicle that is fuelled by force and action as we drive towards the future.

After all, "sword" and "words" are really just the same five alphabets that have their positions jumbled.

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The last line: Beauty at its utmost. Utterly gorgeous, as Mdm Chitra would put it.

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I wrote this essay in about half an hour. 1063 words.
Thats about 300 words for 10 minutes.
30 words for a minute?
1 word for every 2 seconds.

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I wrote this whole essay as part of revision.
Whee.
And its the only essay that gives DIRECT reference to the Bible.
:D
Other essays do highlight certain events in the Bible though.

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Alright shall finish watching Inconvenient Truth.