Why I Write

The title of the post is a misnomer-I have not written much except when compelled to on a few occasions. In that sense, a more appropriate title would have been "why I'm starting to write and hope to continue writing". However, the urge to plagiarize Orwell and the fear of turning readers away at the outset combined to help me make my choice.
As you would have figured from the preceding paragraph, I'm prone to venting a lot of nonsense! If I'm capable of writing so much nonsense, just imagine how much nonsense I spew when I speak. Anyway, without further ado, I'll dive right into it.
The benefits of writing have been extolled by many. Personally speaking, I'm starting to write with two primary motives, one selfish and one altruistic. First, the selfish motive. I have found that writing forces me to organize my thoughts in a manner that mere reading does not. In other words, while reading is a passive exercise, writing is an active one. It forces me to apply my mind and facilitates clarity of thought. Additionally, inasmuch as I'm potentially exposing my thoughts to the world at large, writing also requires me to verify my statements. As such, I'm dis-incentivized from shooting from the hip. Coming to the altruistic motivation. I believe that I have some food for thought to offer to the world, despite there being a deluge of said proverbial food already. If my ideas are of any value, I'm hope they will shine through. I'll strive to pick gaps in conventional wisdom and encourage debate. I can't help but feel that people are being compelled to conform blindly to prevalent norms. That cannot be good for society. We need diversity to thrive and I intend to contribute to it.