Of Pens, Pencils, and Markers

Writing has been with man most probably as early as when he learned to walk on two feet. It may have simply started as clumsy etchings on the sand or any soft surface using sticks or fingers, but we know how thoroughly inclined man is now with regard to scribbling. So engrossed or dedicated as to find time and resource for it even when doing something very personal. Maybe like relieving oneself? Many cannot help playing with their hands clasping whatever is available writing on walls and wherever pen, pencil, paint, or marker can reach and take hold. The many public bathrooms are wordy and graphic testimonies to this proclivity.

And writing implements have gone through a lot of evolution even with just our modern times, from the ink-dipped quills, to the more lasting and convenient fountain pens, to cheaper graphite pencils, and now, the explosion of the utilitarian ballpoint pens made famous and popular initially by the popular French brand BIC. Ball pens are now so cheap and common, they can be found literally everywhere. On the moon, too? Oh, Yeah! “Neil Armstrong and crew would have been trapped there had Buzz not improvised by jamming a ball point pen into the switch's hole to activate liftoff.”


This is not say that there are no more writing implements that can still cause considerable pain on the wallet and are exquisitely crafted, and even made of precious metals. In the not too distant past Parker, Schaeffer, Waterman, and other expensive brands made use of silver- or gold-tipped nibs that many of us wealth-deprived cherished with all of our puny hearts. And they were good writing instruments, too, especially for those inclined to calligraphy. Time was when Cross ball pens and pencil sets were the gold standard, fit and appropriate even as worthy reward for and acknowledgment of long tedious years of service and as keepsake tokens to loved ones. Of course many would say the Mont Blanc fountain pens stand on a high pedestal all its own as a superb writing instrument, not counting its very expensive price tags, running in the hundreds of dollars.

Anyway, however everybody else may view writing implements and their value and use, I took a quick inventory of all pens, pencils, and those indispensable marker pens, in the house and without counting, came up with 5 plastic boxes of them, excluding those strategically located in the house – in a desk drawer, on a cabinet in the kitchen, and maybe a dozen (those with both priceless memories but with modest monetary values attached) stored in a safer place.

Again, this collection did not materialize over time with any intended deliberate purpose and effort. We just over time ended up with them rather than the garbage cans from a variety of sources – from family members, friends, businesses, etc.

They obviously are mostly ball pens, or more appropriately ballpoint pens, of various shapes, sizes, materials, colors, etc.