Of Fountain Pens and Hard Drives

I've recently given in to an old collecting urge and
acquired several fountain pens. Yes, the old fashioned kind
that sometimes leak or skip. The kind of pen where you have
to be sure the ink is dry before touching the page, or it
might smear. I'm writing this piece with one right now, a
pretty red-and-tan marbled pen with shiny gold trim.
There's something about the elegant style of these pens that
I find most appealing. There is a nostalgic romance to
writing with such an instrument. There's a beauty to the
colorful body, the way the light gleams from the golden nib
as it glides across the page, that I find captivating. I
can almost see the flow of the ink, pouring from the
delicate point to lie in not-so-smooth ribbons of words on
the surface of the page.

When I'm done writing, I will enter the words into my
computer, where they will become bits and bytes of data
stored electronically on my hard drive. There are many
advantages to having my thoughts stored in this electronic
format, not the least of which being that it is much easier
for you to read than to try and decipher the scrawl my
handwriting. But beyond that, with the push of a few
buttons, I can send these words speeding across my modem
link to destinations across the street, across the river, or
around the world. My words have taken a journey from the
recesses of my mind, through the point of the fountain pen,
a quick twirl around the spinning platter of the hard drive,
to become electrons rocketing around the world at
unbelievable speeds. What a tremendous opportunity this
brings to each of us!

Because of the power of computers and the Internet, my
words, YOUR words,can reach literally millions at the touch
of the send key. This is a power, a privilege unknown to
those that have come before us. I sometimes wonder what one
of my literary heroes, Samuel Clemons, better known as Mark
Twain, would have thought of the Internet and the World Wide
Web. I think he would have seen this vision, grasped the
idea that here was something that could reach out and
radically change the lives of the earth's entire population.
Something as new and bright as the morning sun. Something
that needed some old fashioned qualities to polish it to a
shining lustre. I think he would have managed to meld the
old world with the new.

The old fashioned qualities, like honesty, integrity, value,
and service are still necessary ingredients for our success
online, just as they have always been necessary for success.
In the new world of websites and e-commerce, our clients and
customers, though sometimes beguiled and awed by the glitz
and dazzle of a slick multimedia presentation, still hear
that inner voice that asks, "Is this sincere? Is this of
value? Is this TRUE?". For our enduring success, as has
always been the case, we must answer those questions with a
resounding "YES!", and then back our answer up with our
deeds and actions. Whether our product is a tangible item,
a service, or even the words written on a page or displayed
on a monitor, it must be of value, of quality, of worth.
This is the foundation we must lay to build our success in
the world of fountain pens and hard drives.