Bonus 9: Who has the right? By, Weini W.

I feel like everyone has the right to write about anything. But in my opinion when it comes on writing tragedy events, anyone who have a good intent and had made research thoroughly can write tragedy events. It is undeniable for us to want to hear the story from those who were actively involved or who saw the tragedy happening on firsthand in order to relate or to know what the tragedy feel likes. But the reality is, those people who were in the tragedy might not have the knowledge on how to write and the ability to put what they went through in words. This might result for the tragic events on remaining untold. Those people who go out on their way to meet up and learn what went on, might be able to hear the story from the people life experiences. Those life experiences are the fuel for authentic and powerful writing. Those people who put their self in new, even challenging situations absorb and understand different types of people and this may result in building the readers empathy muscle. Life may sometimes imitate art, but more often, life inspires what humanity and meaning of life is.

If we look at the discussion we had in class where the story provides the structure for narrative flashback and personal commentary “The Third winter”, the author Martha Gellhorn visits and interview a family in Barcelona. If we focus on whether she had the right to write the tragic event or not, I would argue that she does. At that specific period of time the people who were suffering from the war, their voice could only be heard through a third party who have been watching what they have been going through and that is what the reporter Gellhorn did at the time. Even though she wasn’t suffering as much those people did in first hand she was able to show the readers what their situation was and that they were living with hope and faith.  

In my opinion those people who  have the right to write are those people who read widely beyond the confines of their subject or genre, watch film and television in a variety of genres – fiction and non-fiction, listen to talks and podcasts on a wide range of topics and have a clear knowledge of the tragic events. Those unusual influences will make their writing stand out since they have a good intent and research it thoroughly. There might be times where those tragic events might not be acceptable by the readers due to the lack of putting all the detailed information. But the bottom line is those stories need to be told. If we have to wait for those people who were actively involved or who saw it first hand, the story will remain untold and people might end up not knowing what people had gone through. Those tragic events need to be told in a right way in order to get the justice and peace what any human being deserves.