Joseph Brodsky—named United States Poet Laureate in
1991—wrote, “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not
reading them.” Brodsky was speaking from
personal experience since he was raised in Russia during the Stalin era and was
not allowed the freedom to distribute his writings.
A post on Facebook called “Surprising Book Facts”
gives the following statistics:- 33% of high school graduates never read another book during their lives.
- 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
42% of college grads never read another
book after college.- 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
Contrast those stats with another article I saw on the Internet with the headline Sandvoort, Guyana. The closest library to this South American village was a long two mile walk away. Most school age children had never read a book and the teachers used the “chalk and talk” method for their teaching. In a village where most families can barely afford toothpaste, the desire for learning is so great that villagers are using sweat equity to build a local library. Everyone is pitching in by donating their spare time to construct the building, shelve donated books, and cook meals for the workers. The children in that village will now be exposed to a whole new world of opportunities through their reading.
I know the ways we receive information in the U.S.
is changing due to the technology revolution, but we need to encourage our
families to read. All authors, including me, want to know that people will read
the words that we are inspired to write. An unknown author has said, “A good
book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a
friend.” So pick up a good book and
read.
ere’s a suggestion:
Born Three Times-A New Life, A New Liver, A New Love.
Humbled by the account of the library project in Guyana. My, my, how ungrateful we can be for the opportunities that surround us in the United States. Of course, the finger of accusation points to me in many cases. Thanks, Frieda, for writing on this overlooked subject.
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