Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
I don't read as much as I'd like to. When I do read something, it's only for a few minutes a day and it's usually only a newspaper or a magazine article.
Recently, I bought "1984" by George Orwell and "Starr's Report to Congress." I haven't finished either book yet. I need to take a weekend and finish both of them. Then I need to reread "Lord of the Flies" and maybe a Stephen King book, too.
I just need to read.
Reading is one of man's greatest pleasures, but we don't take enough time to do it or we don't do it at all. How can we stress the importance of reading to young people if they don't see us reading?
Illiteracy is not tolerable. When someone can go through 12 years of school and not even be able to read a letter, that says something negative about our society.
Maybe it is because we have become a society of television- and movie-obsessive people. We even have books on videotape and audiotape. Those audiotapes were meant for the blind and those who can barely see, not for the general public to use and abuse. Movies based on books never follow the book closely so should not be considered as substitutes for the book.
What appears extremely frustrating for those who can't read is when their children ask them to read to them. What's a parent to say? "Sorry, Jimmy, I can't read to you because I can't read."
The usual response is more like the parent yelling at the child to read it themselves. The child learns quickly that the parent won't read to them and thus learns to disregard reading altogether. It becomes a vicious cycle.
The National Adult Literacy Survey found that more than 40 million Americans age 16 and over have significant literacy needs. Approximately 43 percent of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty and 70 percent have no job or only part-time jobs.
Those in poverty or without jobs will never get out of their situations if they never learn to read. Reading is fundamental.
A person has to read to fill out an application for employment, for a driver's license and everything else that the literate take for granted.
Those reading this column probably don't even think much about the importance of reading. Why would you? You're reading. But it's the people reading this column who should be most concerned about those who can't read.
The higher the number of people who can't read, the chance of a high unemployment rate increases. The more people unemployed, the more they might become dependent on charity. And that may mean, possibly, the more you and I are giving.
I don't have a problem with giving, but if something is avoidable, then shouldn't we work to prevent it?
Not everyone who can't read depends on charity. Many of them find ways to get around the applications and such the same way they got through school without actually knowing how to read. They either got someone to fill out the application for them, or memorized the procedures or avoided something altogether.
Many of the people who can't read may be too proud or "too old" to admit that they can't read or to go out and learn to read. I would be very proud of any person, at any age, who made the effort to read, and they should be proud of themselves, too.
Something frightening that I think about sometimes is that, perhaps, technology will become so advanced that computers will read to us and tell us what to do, and then we will only need to talk to our computers. We won't need to read any books because the computer will read them for us. Applications can be filled electronically as the computer asks, "What is your name?" and we tell it. It'll even spell our names for us.
That's a scary thought. That can lead to the infamous Big Brother from "1984."
So, instead of flipping on the computer and surfing the Internet, pick up "Animal Farm," "The Scarlet Letter," or "The Holy Bible," and read. Read a couple of books, pick up a magazine, then today's paper. Enjoy the day reading.
Reading doesn't make a person a hermit, a geek or even a nerd. It increases your vocabulary, develops your concentration, and opens your mind to new worlds you've never been to before.
If anything, reading makes you a smart, sophisticated and broad-minded individual.
What more can I say?
READ!
