The Letter M

 

Epsilon

The Ee that looks like two C's stacked one atop the other is named for the fifth letter of the Greek Alphabet that transliterates as 'e.'  In handwriting, it denotes literary traits, an interest in the Arts and love of culture.  The Vimala Alphabet™ attributes it as the 'Letter of Tolerance,' open and simply elegant with no embellishment or exaggeration.  I often think of it as hands cupped behind both ears — listening carefully and quietly giving space for another person to speak.  Today, Sunday, August 16th is the last day of the 40-day cycle writing lines of e — both uppercase and lowercase Epsilon and the lowercase  teardrop e.  Thank you to all who have been writing with me.  

Cookie Cutter Kids — they don't fit the mold

Cookie Cutter Kids — they don’t fit the mold

 

“Today’s children, and those who teach them, are presented with the unprecedented task of assimilating a more formidable amount of knowledge than any other generation before them.”

 

I wrote those words twenty years ago, and the amount of knowledge and technology has since increased exponentially!  What I call the ‘cookie cutter’ approach in a right-wrong, one-answer-only world is producing a generation of confused, distraught, and often very depressed children.  Teenage suicides were on the increase twenty years ago, and sadly they are the third leading cause of teenage death today.  Psychologists are alarmed by the large per centage of elementary aged children who think about ending their lives out of frustration, loneliness, and feelings of personal anguish.  Parents are even more astonished than the professionals to find that their children feel this way.  The majority of these children are not hoodlums ‘acting out,’ or ‘problem’ children who are incorrigible.  Most come from stable homes where parents love and care about them.  But it’s a busy world, and our schools have schedules and rules and deadlines and homework.  Parents have busy schedules and are often shuffling through work and the essentials of living.  Time is the commodity that looms scarce in all our daily lives.

 

Covid-19 has afforded us a slow-down.  It has it’s own set of stressors to be sure, yet it is a wake-up to everyone that there are other ways of doing things.  More innovative, yes, and maybe better.  One is ‘take time.’  

 

There are tools to learning, and handwriting is the key!  Handwriting models our thinking patterns and reinforces not only our approach to the world around us, but also our innate skills to work in that world.  The ‘basic’ in learning is thinking.  Thinking involves asking questions, making observations, taking action to solve problems, reassessing, and concluding.  Often in our educational system, young people are hooked into finding and reciting answers, and they miss the learning that comes from arriving at solutions.  

 

Albert Einstein put it this way:

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend 

the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the 

proper question, I could solve the problem in less that five minutes.”

 

Make time to look up at the stars, time to inspect what lies in blades of grass, time to enjoy the myriad shapes and colors of plants and flowers.  Take time to listen to a child’s view of the world.  What pulls his or her attention?  Find the fascination in a slow motion walk through an afternoon with your child.  Listen.  Offer insights, yet resist the urge to lecture or ‘tell’ … listen.  Encourage a journal account of such adventures — writing down the experience.  No child is a ‘one-size-fits-all’ person.  Each is unique.  Take time to celebrate that uniqueness — keep your own journal and write it down! 

Does the way we write really affect our world?

Does the way we write really affect our world?

I came across a remarkable observation some years ago. It was noted that in Germany, during Hitler’s reign of terror and the time leading up to it, people wrote with a very angular, pointy style.  When the Nazis were defeated, the German schools adopted a more ‘Americanized’ handwriting, one that had a much more rounded style.  It was that generation who grew up to stun the world as they tore down the Berlin wall.

Teaching our children the Vimala Alphabet™ is really giving them the lifelong ability to use practical, forward thinking and common sense skills to move through life in a more productive and creative way.  They have a lifetime to learn new facts, apply them, create and refine from them, and bridge their understanding to the future.  It’s imperative we provide them with a solid foundation in healthy cursive handwriting skills now while their young minds are establishing firm habits.  The Vimala letters are designed to foster positive thinking.  Self-assurance, solutions thinking, inquisitiveness, zest for life.  Aren’t these what we want for our kids?  The price is simple — daily practice … fifteen minutes a day, choosing three letters at a time to move through the Vimala Alphabet™.  Three letters, three lines each.  Two lines of words that incorporate those letters — beginning, middle and ending — for example:

What's it good for? Handwriting in the 21st Century

What’s it good for?

That's the question the spouse of one of my handwriting clients asked.  He couldn’t understand why anyone would invest time in handwriting.  After all, this is the age of the computer — the two fisted, finger tapping mode of communication.  Let the grammar and spell checkers do the thinking was his reasoning.  Why bother with handwriting?  Obviously the joy of a wonderful handwritten letter from a friend or a short uplifting memo from a colleague or a child’s handmade card would be lost on him.  The efficiency of a pen for legible to-do lists, quick notes or marginal details, or sticky note reminders didn’t seem to cross his mind either.

I have met people from all walks of life, all different backgrounds and skills, and so many are pursuing self-help strategies.  Many are spiritual seekers looking for deeper meaning in life, looking for self-knowledge, self-improvement, a way to cope in the busy rush the world seems to foist on us.  Spending a few minutes a day writing Alphabetical letters engages the subconscious and literally opens up neurons through the hand-brain connection.  New pathways form, new ways of thinking and new insights into how we interact with the world.  The world doesn’t change, our thinking does!  We see, maybe for the first time, the possibilities!

There is no denying the changes we make by practicing positive handwriting strokes.  The brain-hand connection is more powerful than affirmations alone.  It is the fingerprint of our mind, and we can transfigure it so that it supports us in our life journey.  So, what good is it?  Handwriting becomes the foundation for how we meet the challenges in life.  It is a primary tool to living effectively.  And it is the most important technology that we need to share with our children, our legacy, our most precious resource.

Listening ... and healing — the Letter e

Letter E themes - what to watch, what to read

A Time of Change — A Time for Changing

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Our Own Roman Alphabet

Our Roman letters were adapted from the Greek Alphabet.  A true Alphabet, the twenty-six Roman letters include five vowels, a - e - i - o - u, and one semi-vowel, y.  There are uppercase and lowercase letters.  Uppercase letters are also called capitals. Lowercase letters are often referred to as small letters.  

When the printing press was invented, printers had to lay out metal pieces that look like tiles with engraved letters that can be inked, then pressed against paper to transfer the image of the writing.  This is much like our ink stamp pads and stamps for scrapbooking and artwork, but on a much larger scale.  Printers kept their sets of letters in wooden boxes or cases.  One held the capital letters and another housed the small letters.  They kept the case holding the capital letters on top of the one used more often that held the small letters.  So, although, the printing process has been modernized, the terms “upper case” and “lower case” are still used today to refer to the capitals and small letters.

With both consonants and vowels, our Roman letters make up a true Alphabet.

What is an Alphabet?

We’ve looked at several writing systems in this blog series, but not all of them are true alphabets.  An alphabet is any set of symbols, or letters, set in a fixed order, and used to represent both the consonant (hard stops) and vowel (soft breaths of air) sounds of a language.  For instance, our Roman Alphabet with it’s twenty-six letters set in its a•b•c•d•e•f•g•h•i•j•k•l•m•n•o•p•q•r•s•t•u•v•w•x•y•z order.  Each letter represents a phoneme, a small unit of sound.  Each letter then becomes a grapheme, or the smallest written symbol for a phoneme.

An alphabet is a most useful technology.  It allows us to communicate over great distances and even very long periods of time through our writing.  Historical records and scientific discoveries can be written down for future generations of people to study and learn.  Family stories, names, dates, and other important data can be preserved.  Journals are kept to remember our most special moments.  There is a tremendous amount of information and ideas shared through the means of an alphabet.  People from distant parts of the world and very different cultures can learn about one another.  We may never know who the first inventor of a writing system was, but we do know the concept of an alphabet greatly affected people and civilizations everywhere.  

The Vimala Alphabet order differs from the familiar A•B•C order.  Instead, the letters are organized by the qualities that mark our own unfolding abilities that we acquire as we grow and mature.  From our natural “baby” self, full of curiosity and movement, to our older contented self of having accomplished much, the letters work and play together just like people do. 

As movement is mastered, the pen forms familiar shapes that represent small units of sound.  These small units of sound, or phonemes, become graphemes, or letters.  Our Roman Alphabet Letters are full of movement.  There are lines and curves and angles in the different letters.  Joining letters together, we make words that tell a story or communicate something.  The Vimala Alphabet, a handwriting system that is very fun to write.  It’s casual and simple with a basis in Sacred Geometry.

©Susan Govorko 2020

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What is Handwriting?

What is Handwriting?  

 

Typically, we form Alphabet letters with a handheld pen, but anything written by mouth or foot, with a brush or stylus or whatever, is still considered handwriting.  Handwriting is like a voice.  Rather than floating as sound waves across a room, our words flow visually onto a page.  And, just as the same words can be said in different tones that imply very different meanings, so too does each person’s handwriting reflect a very different voice (personality).  All the ways we choose to communicate say something about our patterns of thinking. 

Some people have learned to read “body language”.  How a person stands or sits when listening or speaking may indicate if they agree with what’s being said or if they are speaking honestly.  Handwriting is very much like body language on paper!  Our letters move along the page, leaning forward into the next word, or cautiously inching across a line with dogged steps.  Sometimes we write with happy garland smiles or pointy eyebrow frowns.  Often you will hear adults telling kids to sit up straight, stand tall, keep a good posture.  They know how important good posture is to health and to social acceptance.  Healthy handwriting is just as important and so much more fun!

Looking at how people write their thoughts on paper gives us great clues into their intentions too.  Have you ever noticed how hard you press on your pen or pencil when writing while you are angry?  That’s a clue as to how much feeling you are putting into those words and thoughts on paper.  How you form your letters when you write gives more clues.  And, even more clues can be detected from how fast or slow you are writing, and how much space you give your letters, lines, and margins.  The page represents our space in the world.  How we choose to fill up that space, how we move into and across it, and what forms we draw on it are all symbols of what we think we are in our own world.

©Susan Govorko 2009-2020


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Sharing the communication letters, Part 3 of 3

Sharing communication letters, Part 2

“I guess it doesn’t really matter …” EXCEPT IT DOES!

  When I listen to parents and grandparents nowadays, I hear the same recurring grumble … our kids can’t write legibly!  Sometimes just writing their names is an effort.  Read, yes.  Tap computer and phone keys, yes.  But - handwrite legibly — no!  Actually enjoy writing?  Oh my!  That’s a tipping point, yet they really haven’t been given opportunity or guidelines.  Young children are usually eager to learn to write, and to write cursive.  And, it’s these growing years that writing skills are established.  Habits formed in childhood are often rooted for a lifetime.

  In modern times, researchers have found that when we write by hand, we are connecting to neurons in our brain.  We literally stimulate brain cells, and we are forming pathways for nerves to send messages.  When we repeat certain patterns in our handwriting, we are establishing patterns of pathways in our neuro-centers.  These become our habits of thinking, where or how we most often work on our problem solving skills, or approach new situations, or learn new skills.  Some people learn best by hearing, some by seeing, some by doing.  There is no right or wrong way, but there can be more efficient ways to think about things and easier ways of doing them.  Writing the Vimala Alphabet™ is key to opening that door to innovative thinking.

  Studies have found that children who enjoy writing learn better, faster, and are higher achievers than those who don’t.  Perfection is not the goal, rather, the purpose is to let handwriting flow onto the page with clear, casual, legible script that engages the writer’s attentiveness and is fun to write.  Learning to read and handwrite is one of the most important skills a child can acquire.  Helping a child learn to write fluent cursive letters, always ending to the right, is one of the most rewarding gifts you can offer.

  Why not take five minutes a day … just five minutes, to write with your children?  Just a few minutes with a letter or two or three, maybe a sentence and some thoughtful insights into the letters themselves.  

  Begin a routine practice of writing letters every day.  Including some of the aspects of the letters and Alphabet symbolism can make handwriting much more engaging.  Using the Vimala Alphabet™, begin with the communication letters … just one or two lowercase at first.   

Handwriting and the Alphabet have come down to us through centuries.  We’ve visited some ancient scripts and writing styles through this series of blogs.  It’s amazing that we can decipher the thoughts, feelings, and accomplishments from our ancestors who lived so long ago.  What does your child feel when he or she sees these writing systems?  Consider the complexities involved in how writing evolved over time.  Consider the form and style of some of the scripts pictured in earlier blogs.  Think about how the individual letters or symbols were made.  How easy or how hard would it be to use these scripts?  

Boustrophedon writing

Boustrophedon writing

Can you read the paragraph below?

Literally, it reads (translated left to right with spaces, but no punctuation):

boustrophedon was written in rows as an ox would plow them in a field

originally there was no spacing or punctuation used how hard is this

to read without any spaces or uppercase letters or periods or commas

just letters in fact words were just split where ever the line ended 

Papers and parchments were scarce and expensive.  Nothing went to waste.  Often people would deliberately wash and fade pages, turn them in a perpendicular direction and reuse them, writing over the previous writing.  They also wrote in the boustrophedon style shown above.  Leonardo Da Vinci wrote like this.  It was most confusing until it was finally decided that every line of Roman Alphabetical writing would begin at the left side and end on the right side of the page.  Finally, when spaces between words and punctuation were added, it became much easier to read and understand what was written.

Writing mediums ... inks and dyes

One of the first inks people used was Sepia.  Sepia ink is extracted from a small cuttlefish found in European coastal waters.  The cuttlefish squirts its inky liquid into the water when it feels threatened, much like a skunk sprays when it’s startled.  Sepia is a reddish brownish color that darkens when applied, then later fades with age.

People also tried soot mixed with oils and gums to make a dark writing fluid. 

There were color dyes and pigments made from plant materials that could also be used for painting or writing.

Calvatia Craniformis (Puffball mushroom) 

Used in Tibet for making ink.

Plant materials like the Puffball mushroom above had to be processed to make ink. These were burned, ground, then soaked in water with a little glue, pressed and left to dry into little ink cakes.   The Chinese were probably the first to make cakes or sticks.  There was a lot of experimentation with soot, plant materials, resins and glues to make a good ink.

Sometimes it would mold or fade or crumble.  Dry ink cakes and sticks can be stored and transported easily, then mixed with water to make the fluid medium when needed.  Ink sticks are often formed into beautiful art forms of their own like the two pictured at right.  

One of the first inks people used was Sepia.  Sepia ink is extracted from a small cuttlefish found in European coastal waters.  The cuttlefish squirts its inky liquid into the water when it feels threatened, much like a skunk sprays when it’s startled.  Sepia is a reddish brownish color that darkens when applied, then later fades with age.

People also tried soot mixed with oils and gums to make a dark writing fluid. 

There were color dyes and pigments made from plant materials that could also be used for painting or writing.

In China, the “four precious things of the library” are given much respect and attention to care.  They are the brush, ink, inkstone, and paper.  Above right is the inkstone used for liquifying the ink stick and loading the brush.  Ink sticks and brush are pictured to the left above.

Writing instruments through time ...

Before Pens and ink ….

Writing has come a long way since its beginning, when people had to use a hammer and chisel to carve their letters.

Engraving or carving Alphabet symbols on walls of stone was the work of artists.  Only the most holy priests and scribes could perform this important task.  Such detail work required skill and patience.  Special pointy and blunt edge tools called chisels were used with a hammer to chip out the stone surface in the pattern of the writing.  Some scholars believe this is why these early writings read from right to left.  Since the majority of people are right handed, meaning that their right hand is stronger and more skilled than the left, they used their right hands to wield the hammer against the chisel which was held with the non-dominant left.  It made sense to work across the rock face inching the chisel leftward after each hammer blow from the right hand.  This kept the pattern of symbols in clear view as the scribe carved.  When people started using just one tool, a brush or a stylus, to draw images on parchments or wax boards, they continued writing from right to left.  

Finer tools were needed to write on wax boards and scrolls.

The Greeks and Romans used a metal stylus to make letter impressions on their wax boards.  Both ends could be used for different effects.  The wider end could also be used to smooth out mistakes much like the erasers at the end of our modern pencils rub out our own errors in writing.  Bone and ivory were also used to make styluses.

When pens were adopted, people sometimes wrote in boustrophedon fashion, moving across a page one way, then turning their letters backwards and writing across in the opposite direction.  Finally, when inks came into use, our Roman letters became fixed in one direction, left to right.  Since most people are right handed, it was easier to keep the right hand in front of the pen so they could write without smearing the ink. Left handed writers can avoid smears too, by positioning their paper properly.  Right or left (and most especially for left-handers), line the paper up with the elbow of your writing hand.  

                                   

Writing Instruments through time

With the invention of the reed pen, people could use ink to form finer letters.  Reed pens were made from the hollow stems of certain plants like papyrus.  A writing point was fashioned and the hollow stem was filled with ink.  

Quill Pens are made from the flight feathers of large birds.  Feathers have a hollow shaft that holds the ink.  The best pens came from feathers plucked in early Spring.  Goose feathers were most common.  Swan feathers were the most expensive.  Crow feathers made very fine lines.  Turkey, eagle and owl feathers could all be used.  It takes time and skill to trim and fashion a pen.  Writers had to be careful of the fragile writing point, or nib.  If someone was very good at it, they could trim the same feather four or five times before having to discard it.  The term “pen knife” came from the little knife used to trim the nibs.  A quill pen was used to write our Constitution, and for signing it as well.  

While our modern fountain pens are completely fashioned of stronger, manmade metal parts, they follow the same principle as the original reed pen.  Care must be taken that they don’t leak.  

Brushes are still in use today for Chinese writing.  Brush writing is an art form and lends itself to the writing systems it serves.  Pencils with lead points offer the ability to rub out mistakes.  They are much less expensive than pens or brushes, and won’t leak like a fountain pen, but they lack the finer qualities that facilitate cursive handwriting.  The ball point pen seems the perfect solution to giving a lovely trail of ink without those troublesome leaks.  Even so, some folks still prefer the beautiful quill.

             

Check out the many benefits of handwriting!

Ivy Fenswick has created a wonderful, informative infographic on the many benefits of handwriting!  Please take a few minutes to read this one.  Beautiful presentation and so very important!!!  Children need to learn handwriting and practice handwriting from an early age — not only to establish proficiency, but also to enjoy the many benefits it offers as well!

20 Ways Handwriting Is Good for You and Your Studying
https://ivypanda.com/blog/handwriting-good-for-your-studying/

Our Roman letters have evolved over time

Majuscules and minuscules are uppercase and lowercase letters, also called capitals and small letters.  

Serif is a term used for little projections added to the finals of letters.  Typical in early Roman writing and some fonts today.  Sans Serif means without serifs.

The Sanskrit Syllabary

The Sanskrit Syllabary is written with the baseline drawn above the letters, or what we would consider placement in the upper zone of our Roman Alphabet.

Spoken, Sanskrit has a beautiful musical quality.   Written Sanskrit is an alphabet-syllabary.  Every consonant is voiced with a short a sound, “ah”.  This “a” sound is always implied with consonants in words unless another vowel letter is attached to them.  Vowels are only written out in their full form if they begin a word.  Otherwise, simple diacritics are added to the consonant to represent these sounds.  The written form places the baseline at the top of the upper zone.  The baseline is drawn in above the letters.  Each word is made by joining the letters with a baseline.  In the Sanskrit alphabetical order, the letters are grouped according to where they are produced in the throat and mouth.  The Devanagari script pictured at below begins with the sixteen Sanskrit vowels.


The Devanagari script is revered for its beauty, clarity and tradition.  Sanskrit serves in many traditional, religious, and ceremonial rituals throughout India.  Though there is much debate on what and where the first language was, Sanskrit is considered one of the oldest languages in the world, and many believe it to be the 'Mother of all languages.'  The written letters are soft and flowing.  Try to write a few ... the last stroke is the horizontal baseline at the top.  Sanskrit is written left to right just like our Roman letters.

The Phoenicians spread the sound-symbol technology

The Phoenician or Proto-sinaitic Alphabet gave birth to many other alphabets including our own Roman letter.  Phoenician letters have the same name as the letters of the traditional Hebrew Alphabet although they look very different.  Each letter is named for something, not just a sound.

The Phoenicians were a sea faring people who could travel to many coastal cities and trade different goods.  They had an alphabet that other people used as a model to make their own alphabets. Though the letters looked similar, often the sounds were different for  different languages.  This Alphabet wasn’t a true Alphabet either because it only contained consonants.  
In order to speak, we must give breath to our words.  Vowels are expressed with air; we breathe into them.  Consonants give distinction to our words.  They are like little stops between the vowels.  Try speaking a consonant without any vowel sound — without any breath of air.  Can you do it .. are you sure?  Listen closely as you sound out ”b-ook”.  What happened?  The b sound needs a little puff of air to make a sound.  Even the k needs a little puff of air after it stops the oo vowel sound. 

There are twenty-two consonants in the Hebrew Alphabet, and five of them have additional, special forms when they end a word.  Some also have a couple ways to pronounce the letter, so a little line or dot is added to note that.  Although the Aleph and the Ayin transliterate (a big word that means to translate from one Alphabet to another Alphabet that uses a different set of letter symbols) as A and O, they are not vowels in the Hebrew.  They are glottal stops.  A no-sound is made by the Aleph as if one would say something, but doesn’t.  The Ayin is similar.  It is a little like saying the word ‘bottle’ by swallowing the ‘t’ sounds, “bah-ul”.

        


All Alphabets evolve over time to reflect the thinking patterns of the people who use them.  Above are pictured two more modern versions of the Hebrew Alphabet.

Greeks added vowels creating a true Alphabet

By adding vowel letters, the ancient Greeks created a true Alphabet for their language.

The Greek Alphabet was adapted from the Phoenicians, but here we have a true alphabet with letters representing both consonants and vowels.  Because the Phoenician, Hebrew, and Arabic scripts have languages of words that begin with consonants, all their letters represent consonants. Greek has many words that begin with vowel sounds, so they designed their alphabet to include symbols for the vowel sounds too.  Ancient Greeks created a truly phonetic alphabet that carries all the sounds of their language.  They also abandoned the custom of associating letters with things, and simply assigned letters to sounds in the Greek language.  There was still no punctuation or spaces between words, and all the letters were uppercase, or majuscule.  The letters were very angular until smoother parchment and vellums came into use.  These made it easier to draw softer, curved forms called uncial. 

    

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In the second century, the Egyptians borrowed the Greek letters and added five of their own Demotic symbols to make the Coptic Alphabet. 

This new writing system included vowels for a total of thirty-two letters in all.   While the Egyptian language had sounds that did not match the Greek, they adapted the letter forms to their own vernacular.  The Coptic was replaced in the 1800’s with Arabic, but is still used today for religious purposes.  The Coptic script helped scholars to better understand the Egyptian language, which made it possible for them to  decipher the ancient  Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

What is a 'true' Alphabet?

Everywhere we look there are signs and advertisements, some with the letters of the Alphabet.  We read books and magazines and information on our computer screens every day.  The world is filled with letters that string together to make words; words that are grouped together to make up sentences.  We take this all for granted, so commonplace in our lives, it seems simple.  It wasn’t always so simple.    Fifteen thousand years ago, people were drawing pictures and symbols in caves and on rocks.  It took several thousands of years to learn to make the symbols represent sounds.  Finally the Alphabet and handwriting evolved over many centuries to become the letters we write today.

Abjad is a consonantal writing system used like an Alphabet with letters that represent consonants, but not vowels.

ideogram is a symbol that represents an idea or concept, usually a whole word or several words.  A Chinese character.  Also called an ideograph 

logogram is a symbol used to indicate a word or phrase

Also called a logograph.

phoneme - the smallest unit of a language sound, usually represented by a single letter.

phonics is a method of reading by relating sounds to letters or syllables in an alphabetic writing system.

pictograph is a picture symbol for a word or for certain sound, used in early Egyptian and Cuneform writing.

printscript is a term used for a simplified handwriting that incorporates both cursive and printed letters, usually simplified uppercase letters such as with the Vimala Alphabet™.

syllable - a small unit of sound that contains both a consonant and a vowel, or a single vowel sound.

syllabary is a writing system based on syllables, used like an Alphabet.

symbol is a written mark, character, ideogram, or letter that represents something else.  In our Roman Alphabet, a letter represents a certain sound.

technology - applying knowledge and / or skill for a practical purpose, especially scientific knowledge.  Handwriting is a technology!

transliteration means using a letter from one's own alphabet to translate, or stand for, a letter from another language's writing system.

Vimala Alphabet™ - a writing system created by Vimala Rodgers, Ph.D.  The Vimala Alphabet™ letters incorporate all the best aspects of the Roman letters.

vowel is a language sound produced with breath, or without much restriction.  a, e, i, o, u, sometimes y.

Sequoyah's Cherokee Syllabary

The Cherokee Alphabet is a syllabary of eighty-six letters created by the Cherokee Indian Sequoyah, also known as George Gist, to preserve the Cherokee language for posterity.

Over many years, Sequoyah worked with symbols and the sounds of his own native language.  Many people laughed at him for such a ridiculous task.  They couldn’t see the value of having an alphabet, but Sequoyah knew how important it was to have a written record of his language.  He knew with an alphabet that represented the unique sounds of the Cherokee language, his people could write down their history for generations to come.  His children’s children would be able to read about the stories he grew up with and the customs and culture of the tribe from long ago.  When he finally finished his alphabet, he taught it to his daughter, and with her help, he convinced the Cherokee leaders that an alphabet is a most valuable tool.  They could now leave messages and keep a record of important things.  In 1825, the General Council of the Cherokee Nation inscribed a silver medal honoring Sequoyah for his great gift.  The great Sequoia Redwood trees in California were also named for him.