The Power of Literacy: Acquiring Knowledge and Expressing Ideas

Literacy is philosophically described as the process of acquisition of knowledge with a greater
level of understanding and learning. However, in general, literacy is simply the ability to read
and write. Amalgamating the stated ideas with my perceptions, I believe literacy is the ability of
an individual to make most of his intellectual abilities to critically observe his own surroundings
and then reflect his emotions, feelings, and ideologies in the most understandable ways for the
targeted audiences.
With proper awareness and conceptualization, literacy can be used as one of the most powerful
tools to attract the attention of the people and spread your own ideas within the mainstream. In
terms of school, literacy merely means to read and write properly, but in real life, it goes way
beyond that particular concept. It is more of an effective weapon rather than a pen and a book.
Personal Upbringing and Influence
I have been brought up in a family where we get books and stationery kits as the gift on our
birthdays and other special occasions. I remember the first book that I read completely was about
feline Cats. Since then, I have developed the habit of reading especially before going to bed.
Having read various suspense novels, historical books and literary works of various writers, I
have managed to grasp the command over vocabulary and references from the various famous
texts belonging to different genres. However, I never enjoyed writing. All of my research papers
from the secondary schools used to comprise majorly of the illustrations, tables, and quotations
while the papers from high school used to be poorly referenced, formatted and organized. I was
never a good writer and my instructors were not very happy about this.
Precisely, I have always lived with writing as my worst weakness while the reading inspired me
the most. However, in high school, out of nowhere I developed the habit of reading newspapers

on a daily basis. As the habit grew and became firmer, I started to have the craving to comment
on the latest political situations, emerging stories, and current affairs. Initially I use to discuss
them with my friends and family, however soon I realized I do not have sufficient audience to
talk and discuss my claims and ideas, and that I need to have a broader platform to raise my
voice. This was when the latest technology came in handy. I started posting on various political
blogs and soon made my own personal blog.
I had problems in writing as my writing was neither even properly structured nor had a pivoted
thesis statement. However, my passion for the current affairs and emerging political stories
forced me to write and spread my voice to the masses. I started reading the newspapers and
books more critically and analyzing the personal styles of the authors. This helped me greatly in
writing down on my blogs. I started copying the writing styles and structures of my favorite
authors, column writers and editors of various newspapers. My writing capabilities starting
improving a lot.
I was now able to write about a particular topic, and sticking to a single thesis statement. Unlike
previously, I learned how not to overcrowd the written article. Furthermore, I developed the
habit of writing a detailed analysis of the situation from the perspectives of various thinkers,
philosophers, and politicians. This was when I realized the need for strong citations and
references. The activity that was previously torture for me was now more fun. I enjoyed
searching out for the ideologies of the significant personalities and then citing them in my own
work. On the other hand, I was unconsciously developing the writing capabilities without
knowing what they are known as in the literary sense.
Having read this course, I realized that I had already developed the effective use of "Ethos,
Pathos, and Lagos". However, I also realized that my articles greatly lacked transition sentences

and proper flow. I am now working more on developing the writing skills as well as of the
critical reading skills. I hope to polish these in order to make my literary skills more obvious and
catchier for the readers and writers as well.
Finally, I would like to confess that even after going through the huge laps of progressive
development in the literal context, I still have a lot to learn and understand. English, as a course,
never sounded logical to me and I used to laugh while stating "Who would be silly enough to
study something like English?" However, over the period I have realized the need and actual
objective behind studying a language course. It is not about learning "A, B or C" but it is about
learning to analyze what these twenty-six alphabets come together to form in infinite
combinations.
Using Literacy outside Classroom
Practically, literacy occurs when we are given a chance to brainstorm and express ourselves or
represent our identity. Outside the class, there can be several resources where you can exhibit
and enhance your literacy-related abilities. In my case, I like to work as a current affair blogger. I
believe it is one of the most effective and globalized ways to utilized your skills to exhibit your
level and intensity of the literacy. I blog regularly to express my understanding of the current
political affairs happening all around the world.
The very first task in doing so is to extract the most accurate and precise information from the
surrounding happenings. Evaluating them and critically thinking upon their impact, influences
and probable adversaries are the next step often related to as brains storming and critical
thinking. The last step is to express your idea and perceptions of whatever is happening. The