Agent of Transformation

…to be an agent of transformation…

(A Reaction Paper on the Essay; “The Task of the Writer Today”)

          Personally, if there is one profession that I considered to be a difficult one, I think it is the task of being a writer. To become a writer is not merely sitting down and pounding the words on the paper. It is not even more on writing one’s ideas and thoughts or even creating some mentally created stories. I believe that to be a writer is also to be an agent of transformation, and that is the central message of Rolando Quintos’ essay about “The Task of the Writer Today.” In reading this essay, I drew some reactions which made me say that the essay itself is truly a “magnum opus” (great work).

First, the essay expressed the true attitude of being a “word-smith”.

          Quintos had greatly shown from this essay the true nature of being a writer. According to him, a writer of today must embody his great responsibility to the community at large. He must have defined the issues, recognized the values at stake, and dramatized the nature of the challenge. He must face the fundamental issues facing our world now in mid-twentieth century. From these matters, I believe that the author did describe what does it take to be a writer of today. He expressed his idea that a writer must not only be limited in his world of ideas. A writer must and should be incorporated to the realities that conform within his natural world, meaning, a writer of today must be aware of what is happening within him because from that fact hides his responsibility to be an agent not only as a message sender but most especially to be an agent of transformation in his society. The essay made me believe that a writer should make an impact in the renewal of his country.

Secondly, the essay served as an awakening call for all of us to live our nature as social beings.

          The work of Quintos is not only intended for writers. It is also an appeal for all of us to live our nature as men instituted in a society. “Man, by nature, is a social being” (Rosseau, 1972). He cannot go away by the certain fact that he is with his fellow being and they are all living in a circle of what we called, “societal life.” In this regard, the essay pointed out the call to be always aware with the various phenomena in our society. It is a call for all of us to be responsible citizens of our country. Like the author’s description of what a writer of today should be, the essay also draws out the demand for all of us to voice out our words in such a way that it will contribute to the development of our society. “All men and women according to the place and role that they occupy participate in promoting the common good by respecting just laws and taking charge of the areas for which they have personal responsibility such as the care of their own family and the commitment to their own work. Citizens also should take an active part in public life as far as possible” (CCC #409).

Lastly, the essay served as an appeal for every writer to put dignity and values in his words.

          In the essay, I will never forget these words;

“…too many writers have been writing out of their egos instead of their consciences; too many of them have been preoccupied with human neuroses to the virtual exclusion of human nobility; too many of them, in their desire to avoid sentimentality, have divorced themselves from honest sentiment and emotion. Beneath the hard and shiny surface of the school of supersophisticates there is no blood or bones, merely a slice of life too thin to have meaning.”

These lines truly caught my attention. The essay made not only a description of an ideal writer but it also called the dignity and love of every “pencil-pusher” in creating their crafts. I believe that a writer of today must be true to his words. They (words) must not only explain the writer’s point but most especially they must also express the faith, hope, love, wisdom and other values that will somehow create the spark of transformation in every people in all walks of life. The words of a writer are very influential that they can affect the life or the status of a certain community or society that is why in every words that the writer will put in the paper, he must be principled enough in standing for it.

          In the end, I believe that the essay is not only a description of what a writer should be. But it is also an expression of service to everyone especially for our society. It is a call for us to be an agent of transformation that will evidently create an impact in our day to day living. Allow me to end this reaction paper by quoting a line from the essay itself. “There is no more essential and nobler task for writers than for them to strive to be spokesmen for human destiny.”