Jesus in Teeline

J-S-S

I reckon the most beautiful name in this world is JESUS. It even looks good in shorthand (first picture). There is something about that name that is simple, yet profound. Just look at the shorthand outline.

Jesus is the name above all names, the name at which every knee will bow and every tongue confess and give praise to God (Romans 14:11).

As for shorthand, it is a form of writing that aims to condense the alphabets onto a straight line, minimising the lifting of the pen, so as to quicken it. It only takes consonants and omits vowels.

There are many types of shorthand, the most common being Teeline, Pitman and Gregg. Of the three, Teeline is the easiest to grasp and is a useful skill for journalists to have.

Most journalists are trained to write up to a speed of 100 words per minute. Considering that newscasters read and most people talk at 120 wpm, this is not a bad speed at all.

The best thing about shorthand is the freedom of expression. This shorthand is a very personal thing, because the writer can personalise it in a way that no one else can read it. The basic outlines are learnt from the books, but once the theory is grasped, there is much freedom for the writer to invent his or her own style, even mixing mathematical symbols or foreign characters.

The worse thing about shorthand is that sometimes you have no clue what you have scribbled. This is why shorthand teaches you to be familiar with yourself and with your own handwriting. It becomes a way of communicating with yourself – but not in a mystical way.

There is no worse thing about Jesus. Everything about Him is good, and everything about Him is good all the time. Everything about Jesus is the best – freedom, creativity, personality, communication et al. Jesus might be reduced to a 2-D picture in Teeline here, but he is in fact 3-D, all-D, every-D.