My Tirade Against Pens

I know people like pens,  but I kind of think they're a menace. After all, what good can a pen do that a pencil can't? Pencils overall are much better, I think (mechanical pencils especially). You know why I love mechanical pencils? Because they can erase. Sometimes I make mistakes when I am writing, and its pretty embarrassing when you can't erase. Think about it: with a pencil, when you mess up, you just erase and write whatever it was correctly- even if you mess up again, you can just erase and have a do over. With a pen, you have to cross it and write again, which really only brings more attention to the fact that you can't write. No good at all. For instance, I really dislike being told I have to use pen on an exam, because when I get all stressed (as tends to happen in exams), and I have to think quickly, my writing goes to heck in a handbasket (my dad's phrase, borrowed, I think, from a bumper sticker). It would be great to just erase little spelling, grammatical, etc. errors, but nooooo. Instead I'm writing with a pen, which means I have to scratch it out and make a mess of my blue book.

Another thing: you can't use a pen in a museum. Because they tend to mark things in a pretty permanent manner, a lot of museums forbid you from using a pen if you're going to be anywhere near artifacts. And why do anything that would make you forbidden to hang out with artifacts? Just another reason pencils are better.

Furthermore, you can't shade with pens, which is bad for doodles, drawings, etc. Another point for pencils.

Also: pens eventually run out of ink, which is really annoying (especially if you're in the middle of a test, because then you have to go and ask for another pen, even though you are clearly holding one in your hand- but of course it doesn't work because it is out of ink!). Mechanical pencils (the true winner of all pencils) don't really have this problem. When they run out of lead, you just open them up and add more- its brilliant.

You know why else I don't like pens? People click them. And clicky pens? Probably one of the most irritating things ever. And people sometimes don't even realize they're doing it, so as the constantly clicking is slowly driving you into madness, they keep on blithely clicking along. Aaaaagh (I swear I'm not losing it... okay, finals might be getting to me).

One final thing I like about pencils. When you find a mechanical pencil you like, its pretty much a sure thing that there are several million more of them out there. So if you lose it, or it gets borrowed by some kid who never gives it back (hey kid, you have my pencil, don't think I forgot), you can always get another pack of 20 identical pencils. But pens? Ooooh no. You find that one pen you like, and no other pen is really like it. Doesn't quite feel the same, doesn't quite write the same. No two pens are ever completely alike, so when one gets "borrowed" or you lose it (or it runs out of ink), you've lost your favorite pen forever.

So now that I've written way more than I intended on the topic of pens v. pencils, I hope that you agree: pencils are far superior to pens. Of course, if you disagree, that's fine too, since pens really aren't that much of a contentious subject. Honestly, if you really want to stick to pens, that's totally cool for me. More pencils for me anyways.