To Read or Not to Read

The Confucius quote of the day is "No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance". No wonder I like Confucius, he advocated reading! Anyone who knows me, knows I love to read. I really love to read! I have over 1200 books and I am out of room for books in print, so I am now collecting books electronically with a Kindle (thanks to Jon!)

Back in the old days (and yes the printing press had been developed then), kindergarten was not a requirement. So I went to school as a 1st grader and needed to learn how to read. Our town was small and there were two classrooms of first graders. I sat near the door that linked both rooms together and one day I overheard the two teachers talking and I heard them say that one classroom was for the slow students and one was for the smart students. Unfortunately, I found out at that time that I wasn't smart! (I am sure that this discovery has stayed with me throughout my life, as I always feel not quite smart enough.) Well, needless to say, I was very upset to find out I was starting life at the bottom of the heap, and yes, I did think that way at six years old.

So I started working really hard to get smart and it started with reading! There was never any question about working on my reading skills or not. I had to do it! When I put my mind to something, I am somewhat of an overachiever and by 6th grade I was reading at high school level; by the first year of high school I was reading at a college graduate level. But let's go back a little ways. During the elementary years, I was one of those little geeks who read hundreds of books during the summer book reading contests. In fact, my mother took us every two weeks to the library, and I always walked away with as many books as I could carry and I always finished them within two weeks. I remember reading fiction and biographies, Nancy Drew and the Little House series. In fact, I read virtually every book our local library had in the children's section, so I had to start reading the adult books for something different, hence the advance beyond my years.

My reading, was and is, a refuge for me. I do recreational reading. Self-help and informational reading is boring. I can do it but I would prefer to read for recreation. As time goes by, I move in and out of genres, with historical romance being the enduring love (no pun intended). My book collection is full of these books and friends of mine call it my collection of soft porn! But I truly learn from all of this reading.

I have indirectly learned much about history and geography, science and human nature. I learn vocabulary and good grammar (I hope). I learn about the structure of composition (there should be a beginning, middle and end). I also have learned respect for others opinions, perspectives, creativity and hard work.

Without really understanding what I was doing, I guess I chose not to be ignorant. We all are ignorant about various things; it is inevitable because we can not know everything. I just know, for myself, that I would not want to choose ignorance for myself. So I will read until the day I die. Every night before I go to bed, the light is on (Sorry Jon!) and I am reading, if only for a moment. I read anything in print - books, magazines, internet, labels! The only real mystery that will never be solved for me is how some people can hate it! I love to read!