We may be old but that doesn’t mean we don’t care. Learning how to read was probably the most important, rewarding, and exciting thing that we ever did.
Think about what a privilege it has been to be able to read whatever we wanted. Hopefully the banning of books will backfire. Maybe, it will spark an interest in reading like never seen before.
Few spoke about banning books in our day, but I do remember a few raised eyebrows. We loved that “forbidden fruit.” Mrs. Chatterley who? Scarlet O”Hara? Who were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn? As readers we didn’t worry about political correctness or raised eyebrows when we flipped through the pages of our favorite books.
Be a reader. Read for information. Read if you are bored. Read if you are not bored. Read everything; cereal boxes, newspapers, history, and best sellers. Read in the living room, the kitchen, under the covers in the bedroom, and even in the bathroom. Read in the car, on a bus, or in an airplane; there is no limit.
I am a reader. I am the one reading the slogan on your tee shirt, reading a newspaper at the breakfast table, and the one who always has a book in my bag. I’ve never met a written word that I wasn’t curious about.
It is important that you talk books with your children and that you read to your grandchildren. Passing on your love of reading may be the single most important thing that you will ever do.
Reading is good for you. You need to be able to read to learn and to explore new ideas. We put in our time. We read from reading lists, we slogged through the classics and we forced ourselves to absorb organic chemistry, but we read and we learned. We read what we were supposed to read and we read what we weren’t supposed to read, and because of all that we are smart, well informed, tolerant individuals. We know about so many things that it is almost scary.
Fight for the freedom to read.
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