READ, READ, READ

Came across this meme on FB this morning.  Couldn't resist copying it over to my blog.  

It got me thinking about all the reading I've done over the course of almost seven decades.  Mom was an avid reader.  I've said before that she named me after a heroine in a novel she was reading before I was born.  Her first choice was Linda, but that changed at the last minute.

If I'd have had kids, reading would have been the #1 priority in their little lives.  It would have been my responsibility to see that they grew up learning about life, the world, people, animals, nature, humor and the sun, the moon and the stars.  The world of art is a wonderful teacher.  It saddens me to the core when kids and young people don't read old-fashioned books.  The kind with two covers and paper pages.  I've tried reading on a Kindle, but am just too used to holding a book in my hand.  But, if kids enjoy reading on a Kindle, then have at it.  Just read, read, read.  

If I'd take out of my brain everything that I've read in the past 70+ years, I cannot fathom where I'd be on the scale of knowledge.  My software would simply be an empty disc, I fear.  Books, in the past and at the present, afford me a companionship and source of wisdom, and I cannot be without them.  During my working years, I accumulated a library of self-help books.  We even had a built-in bookcase put in the lower level of our home.  When it came to pack up and move to Venny in 2016, I looked at them, shed a few tears, boxed them up and took a great portion of them to the thrift store.  I held onto the hope that someone might be helped through a stage of their life by reading one of my own.  There were a few that came along with me, like the two LARGE volumes of Henry David Thoreau's journals.  

I will be eternally grateful for my eyesight, for the ability to read and retain that which has helped me see the world from different perspectives.  We can get so stuck, that we forget that if we sit up in a tree we just might see more than from down on the ground.  It's that business of always reaching higher.  

We grew up hearing stories called fairy tales that started out "Once upon a time....".  The master of the fairy tale was Hans Christian Anderson, a Danish writer.  Fairy tales are not only entertaining, but they include moral messages.  Like the story of Cinderella, which tells how Cinderella loved her dysfunctional family with all her heart, and her kindness is one of the reasons why the fairy godmother showed sympathy and decided to help her.  Kids learn that kindness will be rewarded but selfishness will not.  

Believe it or not, I still have the first book of short stories that Mom gave me when I was probably five years old.  I treasured it so much that its pages are not worn or torn.  It speaks of my reverence for the book and for reading books.  A library does no one any good if the books aren't being read.  It would be like buying a house and leaving it empty, not lived in.

Today is the Fourth of July.  A day to sit back and ponder our beloved freedoms.  Every night I pray for our nation, ask for protection and the preservation of our freedoms.  There's a feeling we all silently share, whether we live on the left or we live on the right side, that our freedoms may disappear for our future generations.  This gets way too close to the political arena, so will back off and stay as far away as I can.  I learned my lesson when I lost one of my closest friends ever over g.d. view points.  I've read enough in my life to know that there are many vantage points.  How silly to think that one way is the only way.  It's like the person who has read one book in their entire lifetime and keeps talking about only what they read in that one book.  

A couple of days ago I wrote about the fish that has his mouth shut won't get caught.  Well, that ties into what I'm saying here.  If we'd all just shut the f.. up, maybe our world would be a nicer place.  We're all outspoken, nasty to one another, and not one of us knows enough to fill a thimble when push comes to shove.

Whew!  Now I feel better.  I'm taking the Fourth of July to bow down to the United States Flag.  I love my country, and I try very hard to love the people who live here.  There is a clock that's ticking somewhere, and any second our time might be up.  A hand will reach down and yank us away from this earth and fling us who knows where.  In the meantime, let's be wise enough to appreciate one another and not continue throwing shards of sharp glass at one another.  It boils down.........to what end?