We seem to fail to realize that as phases of our education evolve, our taste in writing utensils DRASTICALLY changes. You may never have pondered this topic before, but allow yourself to put yourself in the shoes of a child again, and reminisce on the memories of your childhood…
Phase 1:
The JUMBO Pencil
Bring yourself back to the first day of kindergarten… You slip into your light up shoes and put on your new backpack. You walk into your first classroom unwillingly awaiting the point of when you have to let go of your moms hand. But then you see it… your eyes widen as you glance at the giant yellow cylindrical JUMBO pencil sitting on your desk. Your own jumbo pencil, all to yourself. At the time, nothing was more precious than this pencil. It was the mark of the start of your education, the first symbol of your education that you could call your own.. But once this year ended, you probably never touched a jumbo pencil again. Thinking back on it, how come schools only give jumbo pencils to kindergarteners when their hands are so small… what?
Phase 2:
The Personality Pencil
Bring yourself back to elementary school… You slip on your heelys and pray that the principal doesn’t yell at you in for heelying around in the hallways. You walk into class and sit down at your desk. You quietly pull out your fully stocked pencil case and slyly place it on your desk. You pull out your pencil which has your favorite disney character ALL over it and await for someone to acknowledge your exquisite choice of the pencil that shows your character a little love. You turn your head as your friends pull out pencils ranging from power rangers to hello kitty themed. For some unknown reason, these were the years where it was absolutely necessary to express yo self.. and who cares! Let em know where you come from.
Phase 3:
Erasable Pens
Now take yourself back to middle school. Can’t you just see yourself sitting at your desk in the middle of class shooting your friend a subtle grin as you take what you just wrote… in PEN… and erase it right before their eyes? Everyone who had these pens thought they were a complete bada$$ every time they used one. Little did we all know that it was probably smarter to just buy some white out seeing that every test you took with an erasable pen was barely legible due to the severe smudging from the constant erasing.
Phase 4:
Mechanical Pencils
Although there were definitely people who used mechanical pencils in middle school, seeing every person with a mechanical pencil is the mark that you’re officially in high school. No more getting up to sharpen your pencil in the middle of class. You have to admit though, it’s a great feeling when your pencil would snap in the middle of class and you wouldn’t have to get up to sharpen it. And you KNOW everyone was silently judging that one person who would get up to sharpen their pencil…
Phase 5:
Ticonderoga Number 2 Pencil
Ahhh, an American classic. Who could forget the glorious days of taking SATs and ACTs and having to stumble around your house the night before the test to try to find a Ticonderoga number 2 pencil? Bring yourself back to when your mom was angry with you because you had to go out at 10 p.m., the night before standardized testing, to pick yourself up a pack of these beauties. I’m sure this is a phase that we definitely don’t miss too much.
Phase 6:
Standard Pens.
You’re at college now, and you’re on your own trying to get by. No more pencils, no more full pencil cases, just one singular pen. Now you’re even lucky if you remember it for class. You can’t read your writing because you’re trying to keep up with your professors lecture. You don’t have a care in the world about erasing or white outing your work and your writing turns into scribbles as you fall asleep in class.
Maybe we should refer back to our inner child and bring some fun into our writing utensils. Sometimes we don’t realize the phases of our lives until they’re over, but they connect us as human beings.
