I, Pencil.

    Referencing the textbook from my current communications class, “being able to understand more than one group’s ways of using language such as what is practiced by many Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, lesbians, gay men, and members of other groups that are simultaneously part of a dominant and a minority culture is known as code switching.”

    That term stood out to me, and brought my mind back to a music video I was watching where the rapper was making hand signs. Sometimes, out of curiosity, I descriptively type what I’ve seen into a search engine so I can find out what it means. What I had witnessed was a term called “cracking,” but not in the new, dirty slang way you may think, or maybe. When a gang member throws up an opposing gang’s sign, and then flips it, the result is a cracking; a sign of disrespect. In hindsight, maybe “cracking” a woman and not calling her back essentially does hold the same meaning; disrespect. Furthermore, I’m genuinely hoping that curiosity doesn’t kill the cat as I continue to rattle my keyboard.

    I haven’t been inspired to write for fun in awhile, but today I was reminded how much I enjoy learning about people who live their lives different from mine. Most of us go about our day and never venture outside of our circles or comfort zones. Meanwhile, an entire alien culture is in operation as close as across town. How naïve, ignorant, and selfish would we be not to explore it?

    As that thought sat with me, I was reminded of a discussion assignment I had last year in my microeconomics class that focuses on our oblivious interconnectedness in economic markets. I would love if you watched this video 'I Pencil' before reading the following.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYO3tOqDISE

PART 1  

    Although I’ve used a pencil many times, more times than I could ever count, the wonder a pencil holds became visible to me for the first time today. The video ‘I, Pencil’ began with a quote by G.K. Chesterton which states, “We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.” At first glance, a pencil is nothing more than a common, easily attained item containing little wonder. However, after experiencing a pencil presented so artistically through this short film, I was awakened by the realization that there is not one person in the entire world that could accumulate the materials of graphite, cedar, metal, and rubber to create a pencil on their own. Interestingly enough, humans need each other regardless if there’s a conscious awareness of it or not.

PART 2

    Absent of one single mastermind within our economic environment, the web of connection created through our collaboration and cooperation in response to necessity and desire is the market at work. We see this through the process of bringing the finished product of the common pencil to market. As quoted in the video, “Just because it’s familiar, doesn’t mean it’s simple. In fact, it’s complicated, elaborate, beautiful, elegant. Its very existence is too improbable for any one person to truly comprehend.” Collectively, this reminds me of how important the division and specialization of labor is in relation to bringing goods to market. Imagine one person having to go all over the world for all the items to create one pencil, and then needing to know how to put the pieces together all by themselves. How could one do it all alone? Nobody does because it doesn’t make sense. However, somehow “as if led by an invisible hand” millions of people have interacted over long periods of time through voluntary and spontaneous cooperation to eventually bring us the pencil. Referencing our microeconomics textbook, “The metaphor of the invisible hand suggests the remarkable possibility that broader social good can emerge from selfish individual actions” (Greenlaw & Taylor, 2014). Furthermore, doesn’t the pencil and so many other items simply come down to millions of people putting forth effort to make a living in order to meet their basic needs?

PART 3

    Within the presentation of ‘I Pencil’ there was a statement about the world being “better so long as people are free to interact with each other,” and I don’t believe that’s always entirely true. Many good things come from interactions, but many negative things do too. Consider the theory that COVID-19 was created in a laboratory in China and released into the public. As recently as May 7, 2024, the United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability issued a press release that stated, “documents were previously released in an unclassified and highly redacted Freedom of Information Act production, first obtained and reported on by U.S. Right to Know — a nonprofit working to expose government failures that threaten public health. The redacted documents showed numerous, highly suggestive subject lines. As mounting evidence continues to point to a lab related accident in Wuhan, China as the likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, safely removing these superfluous redactions is a step towards transparency and accountability” (Committee on Oversight and Accountability, 2024). Conclusively, it would be fair to commit to the idea that free interaction is as equally mandatory and calculated as it is voluntary and spontaneous, similarly to yin and yang searching for equilibrium.

You can call me "B," Queen B.

Works Cited

Committee on Oversight and Accountability. (2024, May 7). Classified State Department Documents Credibly Suggest COVID-19 Lab Leak, Wenstrup Pushes for Declassification. Retrieved from Committee on Oversight and Accountability: https://oversight.house.gov/release/classified-state-department-documents-credibly-suggest-covid-19-lab-leak-wenstrup-pushes-for-declassification/

Greenlaw, S. A., & Taylor, T. (2014). Principles of Economics. Houston, TX: OpenStax.

Wood, Julia T. Communication Mosaics: An Introduction to the Field of Communication. Available from: Yuzu, (8th Edition). Cengage Learning US, 2016.