What's a Writers' Responsibility?

Many people work in jobs or careers -- and I differentiate between the two -- that simply require them to arrive at work at a certain time, perform certain tasks, and then leave at the end of the established work day. While these jobs are important and vital to the economy and a certain standard of life maintained in many industrialized cultures, most of them do not carry with them a greater responsibility to the public at large. However, there are many careers where more than normal honesty is required. The public must be able to trust that the person performing the tasks is not only skilled and qualified, but committed to the duties and obligations that they have accepted for the greater good.

While there are some examples -- such as doctors who vow to do no harm -- that might leap readily to mind for many people, there are others that we must also trust to do their jobs to the best of their ability in order to insure that the country continues to be a safe and productive environment. For example, we turn our children over to teachers in the public school system for several hours a day. In doing so, the teachers must be committed not only to providing the next generation with the best education available, but also to looking after their psyches and physical well-being. We trust, when we hand our children over, that they will not deliberately seek to harm our children or devalue the education that they receive. Those who break this trust are severely punished. We trust the individuals who design our roadways and bridges to make them not only functional, but also strong and secure so that our driving experiences will be as safe as it possibly can be. We trust the individuals assigned to monitor the use of radioactive materials to respond appropriately to any reported misuse of such material in order to prevent harm or panic among the public. The people who choose to pursue these careers are obligated to the public to perform their tasks to the best of their ability. It is there responsibility and their duty.

What then about the writer? What is our responsibility and duty? What purpose do we serve in society?

Aristotle taught that poets, the word used for writers in ancient Greece, were obligated to provide a catharsis from excessive emotion. By so doing, poets helped maintain stability and balance in society by preventing any unnecessary build-up of harsh, negative feelings among the populace. We were to keep the pressure cooker from cooking over.

Having read far and wide, I've observed another role, besides simple entertainment or information exchange, which writers of the past have often performed: They open the door for people to think about the tough issues of the day. They provide the initial 'what if' or 'why' about things that need to be changed in society. Mark Twain's Pudd'n Head Wilson, for example, opens the door for a discussion about nature vs. nurture and whether or not race or environment really affects a person's behavior and character. This was a startling notion in the post-Civil War United States, but it opened the door for real people to see beyond racial stereotypes.

Thinking about the role of the writer in society and my responsibilities and obligations as a writer has been on my mind a lot lately. I look around me, I read the news, I watch gas and food prices soar while all around me people are being forced to work for less and less, I stand outside and I can feel events moving and swirling around me and I know that everyone does not see the bad times that are coming like I do. As a writer, do I have a duty to try to tell them, so they can be prepared? Should I try to open their eyes so they are not caught unprepared? As a writer, what duty do I have to society? What role do I fulfill in the human community? What's my purpose?