On writing and the use of language

I don’t quite like my writing abilities. I believe that I am unable to write well because I find the quality of my writing so lackluster compared to the writing s of the materials that I read. Reading such contents sometimes give me the impression that writing well is the innate ability of all human beings. But I do realize that I am never quite able to replicate the fluency of such writings. And I do realize that there are people whom I come into contact with in my life who are not apt when it comes to writing. The most evident of these are some of the people whom I met when I was serving in the army for national service. You do come across people from all walks of life and social backgrounds in the army that you might not come across or have much opportunity to interact throughout your life because of the education path that you take in Singapore. Now, some of these people have such poor grasp of the English language that they are unable to write out a single coherent sentence.

I suppose the gift of expressing oneself in language is a talent that varies in degree from individual to individual. It is partly skill, partly innate, like any other talents or traits in life. However, the ability to use language is so intertwined with how we see our own existence. It is as if we can’t think of ourselves apart from our language that we use to think, or communicate. Yet, as I am observing over here, there is something about language that is quite distinct from one’s self, as much as is a person’s facial or physical features that one finds on oneself.