Sun Tzu's True Art of War - Why the Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

There's a difference between the blade of a sword and the ink of a pen. The old saying always reminds us that the pen is truly the dominating warrior in the battle between violence and serenity in mankind. Sun Tzu's The Art of War shows us the genius tactics that a general can use to defeat overwhelming odds and combat technology. His life as a heroic general during the Spring and Autumn Period of China under the King of Wu is testament to the realism of his war tactics.

As a gamer I'm familiar with that kingdom because I've played the Dynasty Warriors series on the Playstation 2 for years; Wu is one of the main factions in the game. Decimating thousands of enemy NPC soldiers as Ma Chao and Lu Bu never gets old. I never did like Wu actually because I was a Shu warrior gamer at heart. I'll also never forget that priceless cut-scene in Dynasty Warriors 3 when Lu Bu appears for the first time. Two enemy soldiers freak out and one of them yells in a hilariously accented high pitched voice, "Oh my god, it's Lu Bu!" (Lu Bu to China in the story was the equivalent of Achilles in the West)

But the way it was said sounds like "Omg it's Luu Booo!" so I can't help it but crack up each time.

Getting back on topic, let me explain to you what I have done as an online freelance writer. I've been writing since the age of eleven but started out as a humble kid polishing his skills in creative writing, unaware that you can actually get paid (too bad the world thought I had to be 18 to legally exist). Writing is a talent I would have never worked on if it weren't for my genius English teachers in all my schools, even from my playground and recess days. They taught me it is more than something you learn in the classroom. It's more than essays and term papers that make me want to stick my hand in an oven. I once had an essay paper I had to skip meals to finish, and you know what happens as soon as I walked out of my house to go to school?

It rains.

Not just any rain. To bystanders it was a sudden downpour but to me it was like my life's work was getting urinated on by God himself. That was the inevitable pain I had to deal with as a writer. Picture Agent Smith from The Matrix movies series saying "inevitable" and the point will hit home.

I'm in medical school abroad in India, thousands of miles from my hometown near Chicago. And still I'm getting paid for what I write online. Thousands have been influenced by my writing. When I talk about writing as more than a physical connection, I mean it breaks physical laws in nature, something the blade of a sword can never do.

What people say in real life to you is understood normally. But the letters and words you read on paper only happen in your mind through incredibly high speed neural impulses of information. With the power of the internet, humans have defied nature's boundaries and made writing a way you can actively change the lives of millions of people in the world at real-time, across the continents and oceans.

Writing is psychological and I'm all about psychology. When you put yourselves in the shoes and mind of another person, you discover all the different ways you can take 26 letters and create a nearly unlimited combination of words and syllables to understand what will make a reader laugh, hurt, and learn - something a weapon of war like a blade can never do.

And unlike the sword, writing can be used to create peace as well as starting wars. Believe me, I tried an experiment to see if the sword can also do both and I learned something. Never use yourself in an experiment. Get someone else.

And who the hell said the pen can't kill a guy better than a sword?

We have people like Jason Bourne running around and using every house hold item to beat up professional cold-blooded assassins from places in Europe where we say we want to go but are too lazy to make the damn trip. I still remember The Joker from The Dark Knight hilariously dispatching that hechnman by making his pen 'disappear.'

And if you still don't believe me that writing is the true art of war, then you must realize that Sun Tzu's masterpiece The Art of War was not created by a sword, but with the ink of a pen. Sun Tzu was a mastermind who knew he could influence billions of people over generations of life and death. He knew that if he was lucky, his words will be read even today. The pen had made Sun Tzu immortal.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

-Sun Tzu

The Art of War's final secret is that it is truly the act of writing that can defeat enemies when you're ashes and dust in the winds or buried six feet in the ground.

The pen is mightier than the sword.