The Written Word Is Not the Spoken Word

 The Written Word Is Not the Spoken Word 

Abe Lincoln reading to his son Tad.

 The written word 

 is not the spoken 

 conversational word 

(TOP) "The earliest known draft of the United States Declaration of Independence, 

a fragment in the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson. June 1776."

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Composition_draft.jpg
The numerous words that were crossed out, inserted 
and changed shows how the written word is usually crafted.

(BOTTOM) Top of a finished polished Declaration of Independence 
published version, known as a broadside. 

 The written word is molded, 

 crafted and polished 

 And does not include 

 the body language and 

 the silent  expressions 

 of speech 

Sputnik, October 4, 1957

 LAUNCH OF SPUTNIK 

 OCTOBER 4, 1957 
 Personal Stories 

 Eight grade, age 13, Sharon, Connecticut 

 Pete, the town wino, tells us he saw it 

"A replica of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite in the world to be put into outer space..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sputnik_asm.jpg

 Waiting for a ride to school 

 in the chill of dawn 

 the town wino comes up to us 

 pointing to the sky 

 "That thing those Russians put there  

 going around the Earth... 

 I saw it," 

 he says slurring his words, 

 "...a little silver ball" 

We stood in front of this building waiting for 

our ride to school in Sharon, Connecticut. (Google Earth)

 We laughed 

 at Pete 

 but underneath we shivered 

 Because as young boys 

 soon to be draft age 

 we knew 

 we would be involved 

Wounded during a military operation in Vietnam in 1967, 

10 years after the launch of Sputnik.