As any historian or lawyer or banker or physician or teacher will tell you, the written word is a powerful thing indeed. Written words are the basis of much of the way we live our lives. The written word is fundamental to our constitution, to contract law. It can be a signal of our brokenness and mistrust as well. If you want to be certain, we are told, you should have the other party put it in writing and affix their name.
Written words are important but there is danger here.
I think we all know that. We can limit what is possible when all of life is reduced to a written transaction. When life is only about contract, about quid pro quo, about tit for tat, something is lost. Among the things which are lost are serendipity, surprised generosity, evolving possibility, potential reconciliation, transformation, and renewal. If the most we can expect is what has been negotiated in writing beforehand, then that leaves little room for the spirit, and there is a lot more room for rigid and inappropriate responses to naughty human dilemmas.