I
used to think that it was okay that some people didn’t read. Whatever, that was
their life choice, not everyone is into reading. I mean, of course I wanted to
everyone to be into reading because I love it, and I want to everyone to
experience the awesomeness of reading like I do, but when it came down to it,
people could do what they wanted.
Since then, I've changed my mind. Now, I think, yes, everyone should read. I don’t care what people
read, I just want people to read, something, ANYTHING. I believe wholeheartedly
in the quote by Frank Serafini about
how there’s no one who doesn’t like to read, there’s just people who haven’t
found the right book. There are billions of books out there, of all genres, and
I’m sure that somewhere out there, you can find books that you enjoy, at your
reading level and within your interests.
Just looking at my family, you can see how diverse reading tastes are. I mostly read YA fiction and dabble in a bit of
adult and nonfiction. My dad reads mostly nonfiction. My mom likes
adult thrillers and mysteries. My brother will read anything as long as you
literally hand it to him. My sister likes books
based on movies, or fun MGs, or even better yet, fun MGs that have a movie
adaptation. We definitely don’t all read the same thing, but we all read. I’ve
come to believe that reading books is extremely important, and I’d almost say
necessary.
Why do I think reading is so important?
One reason is that through reading, I have the opportunity to enter into
someone else’s experiences and thoughts. I don’t think there is anything that
is more powerful than a book in helping people step into someone else's shoes. I
have lived so many different lives, often very different than mine, through
reading.
I know that it's possible to learn about other people's experiences through TV or documentaries or YouTube videos. But I think that books are much more
effective at doing this. Often, especially in fiction, you are forced to take
on the perspective of the main character. Even in nonfiction, you’re reading
from the perspective of the author. You are thrown directly into that person’s
perspective, and you are tied to it through the words that you are putting into
your brain. The most obvious example of this would be first-person fiction. You
are privy to the very inner thoughts and feelings of someone who is not you.
How amazing and powerful is that?
The
power that books have in connecting you deeply to someone else’s experiences is
so incredibly important. First of all, when you have internal access to someone
else’s lives and experiences, or another place in history (depending on what
the book is about), I think it is almost impossible not to develop empathy for
that person.
Not only are you drawn into creating a personal connection with the
characters, author or situations you read about, but you become a participant in those experiences yourself. When you read, you don't experience things second-hand like you do when you watch things happen on TV. Through the characters or author, you are participating directly
in the author/character’s experiences. I’m sure you’ve probably heard people
talk about getting lost in the world of a book, or feeling like the characters
or world was real. In a really good book, I forget who I am and where I am. I
am completely taken over by the lives of who or what I’m reading about.
As a
result of that deep, personal connection with the world of the book, empathy
for the characters in the book is almost inevitable. You know exactly how it feels because you basically experienced it yourself.
Of course the most
important thing is that in the end, it’s not just empathy for the characters or
the author. In the end, it’s empathy for people, for humans in general. It’s
empathy for the people around you in your life.
First, characters help give you
an understanding of other people’s perspectives and experiences, and then you
can apply that to your own life. You can begin to understand and feel for other people, because you are now able to share in
what other people experience, or know what other experiences are like. You can
realize the multitude of other experiences outside of your own. This is also
why I think it’s also incredibly important to read diversely – to read books
with characters that have different abilities or skin colour than you, or books
about places other than where you live.
Of
course, it doesn’t stop with empathy. Books also have power to open your mind
to so much. Learning is a huge part of why I love reading. I love learning.
Learning is important for moving the world forward, for helping to get rid of
prejudices, to help realize past mistakes and move beyond them.
There is so
much to be discovered through the world of books, both fiction and nonfiction. In
fiction, learning comes from what I’ve already talked about in regards to
empathy and other people’s experiences. Fiction also helps you to learn about
the essence of who we are as humans. I could tell you about countless YA books
I’ve read that have taught me about what humans are like and the strength
people can have through so many situations. And in both fiction and nonfiction,
there is so much to learn about everything, every topic you could imagine.
Different countries, different places, different people, science, history,
conflict... the list goes on.
I know that nowadays there is an infinite amount
of information available, thanks to the internet. But I
think what makes books unique is that personal connection I’ve already talked
about, that connection between you the reader and either the characters or the
author. There is something deeply intimate about reading a book, that creates an
inner personal experience and connection that just can’t be achieved in the
same way anywhere else.
In
order to truly learn empathy and other things about the world, it is definitely
necessary to read widely, and diversely. I admit that I’m not the greatest at
this always. I often like reading inside my comfort zone, who doesn’t? I’m
working on it, though. The world is a huge place, and it encompasses billions
of stories. Why should you limit yourself to learning about one specific,
particular experience? Reading should not only be about identifying with
experiences similar to your own, but also about learning about experiences
vastly different from your own. Every time I read a book about something so
very different from my own life’s experiences, it causes me to step back and
think.
That’s
another thing that books do – they make you think. Or I think that’s what they
should do, anyway. If you’re reading diversely, about people’s experiences,
then you end up thinking about those experiences and the implications of them
in regards to your own life. Books have opened my mind to so many new ideas, or
opened up different perspectives on old ideas, or they’ve forced me to
re-examine my own thoughts and make me ask myself why I think a certain way. Or
they’ve made me think about human experiences. I think about different things,
depending what book I’m reading, but they make me think.
So
of course, I think you should read. I think reading helps people empathize,
learn about the world, and think critically. My mind is blown open a little bit
more each time I read a book. I think if everyone read books, widely and
diversely, the world would be just that little bit of a better place.
Also,
I love reading, and I want everyone to love it as much as I do. Just don’t stop
looking for that “right book”. And whatever you do, please, please read.
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