Do your hands write?

When I was in the second grade, I was quite proud of the fact that my teacher put one of my writing assignments out in the hall because I had good penmanship.
Then, my writing success continued in fourth grade as we learned cursive. I could curl my letters just as well as any adult, and I was quite excited about that fact.
But as time has progressed, my handwriting has gone from the top of the class to doctor quality. I blame it on my constant scratching down of notes during meetings, or while I'm in an interview. My handwriting has changed from a pretty, neat print to a hybrid-mess of cursive and print. Most of the time it's legible. Other times, I have to use context clues to figure out what I wrote. It can get ugly, trust me.
I learned to have good handwriting in school because computers were just something that you used in a special class once a week. You went to "computer class" to play games like Oregon Trail and Amazon Trail. Then, in high school, you learned proper typing techniques and how to not look at your hands while you type.
But will the youngsters of today know the importance of hand writing? Will they have to know it?
I saw a piece on CBS Sunday Morning News about the decline in hand writing, which saddened me because you can tell a lot about a person from their hand writing. Cursive has even been removed from some school curriculum, according to CNN.com, so it's only a matter of time before it is lost completely in society. (As you know, schools are teaching for tests these days, so if cursive isn't on a test, students don't need to learn it, according to the logic of many schools.)
Handwriting in school was almost a write of passage. All of the long, tedious papers had to be written first on notebook paper. I remember having to hand write the rough draft of my high school term paper, and then the final drafts were typed. Your hands actually hurt when you were done, but you knew that was part of being in high school. You would even get that little notch on the side of your finger from holding your pen so long. It didn't kill you, but it made you curse at your teacher a bit. And it made you even happier when you wrote those final words on that lined notebook paper  — you had survived. And while a nice curvy font can appear as cursive, I don't think anything can ever replace actual hand written cursive text. My grandparents and parents may be among the final generations to use cursive daily. I remember when I first learned cursive, and I thought it was so cool because "that's how the adults write." I was another step closer to being grown up.
But I don't think a lack of handwriting is anything to fear — just yet. I am honestly more concerned about the butchering of our language because of the digital age. While I am guilty of using the usual text abbreviations like "ur" for your, and "abt" for about, I make a very conscious effort to not use those words when I write formally, such as in a story or a paper for school. Yet, students these days often do not understand the difference in the two occasions and will still use texting shorthand in their formal writing. I want to scream whenever I see these words used outside of a cell phone screen. In fact, I was driving by an elementary school the other day and the sign read, "Yearbooks R in." Yes, I do understand that vinyl signs are notorious for using shorthand, I was more upset that the SCHOOL was doing that — and an elementary school where students are still learning the basics of language. Sigh.
I can only hope that parents will still make their children write as much as they can and develop legible handwriting. Good penmanship says a lot about a person, as well as society. Sure, our penmanship isn't as elegant as the forefathers, but it tells a story of who we are as a culture. I don't want our story to be told in typed print.