Written in Stone

Imagine the difficulties for the first writers. What if they made a mistake? Chiseling information on stone isn't the same as scratching some symbols on paper.

I wonder...

What if the chiseler was less than meticulous? What if he/she made a mistake and just shrugged the shoulders? After all, rectifying such an error would be a huge undertaking. It's not as though he could crumple up the stone and toss it over his shoulder. What if he decided to be creative with the symbols and add little tails on the points--or little hearts above the heads?

How do we know if the stonemasons were accurate? Much is being written and discussed about the Mayans and 2012. But how do we know one of their priests didn't have a creative bent and added some extra snakes or feathers when they were chiseling out their prophecies?

I wonder how many oddly spelled names on tombstones were actually mistakes by the stonemasons. I have an ancestor with her name spelled Alys instead of Alice. What do you suppose that's all about?

It's not written in stone, we say when we want to offer the option of change or revision. So why do we resist change in our words? In our hearts, are they written in stone?

anny
www.annycook.com