All of us choke down our daily diet of emails, short articles, and joke pieces online, which is, technically, reading. However, too few of us take the time to consume large, satisfying meals of lengthy, thoughtful articles, novels that capture human nature and extend our imaginations beyond their comfortable little playgrounds, and enough nonfiction to give us facts by which to further inform our perspective on reality.
I just re-watched the film “Auntie Mame” with a couple of friends a few nights ago. The famous line from the film is “Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” This indeed is the motto for the fulfilled life. But then, I always feel a little undernourished after the film. Who can afford to travel around the world and be at the right places for meeting the right people? Who has the time or the luxury of focusing attention to cover such a large variety of hobbies and to master so many talents to be a true Renaissance Person? Certainly not me. Having financial means and adequate time are apparently needed for that brand of fulfillment? But even Mame mentions in the film that she had been weaving a rug which now serves as a bell-ringer by the fireplace. Where does the time go?
A thoughtful, well-written piece is one way to “borrow” from the experiences or imaginings of others. While you may never have the time, money, or physical energy to climb Kilimanjaro, there certainly have been enough books written about it to help you vicariously experience every nuance of the expedition. While books will never replace actual experiences, they certainly, to belabor the banquet metaphor, can be great nutritional supplements.
And there are so many gaps in the time that is actually taken up with the necessities and experiences of real life that can be filled with exploring the larger world through others’ words. At one point, I took a bus to work in Los Angeles in spite of owning a perfectly good car because I wanted that extra-time each day to read. The bus was a perfect, low-cost, green solution to getting a daily literary retreat. I was almost glad that the L.A. Metro system was so notoriously slow. We wait in too many waiting rooms and too many lines not to fill these times with something meaningful. If you aren’t introducing yourself to everyone around you in a waiting room, you should be reading something other than the two-year-old People Magazine that they generally leave in those rooms. BYOB! Bring Your Own Book!
How much TV do you watch? How much of that is quality TV versus...say reality shows or cheap joke sitcoms. Talk about growth-killers. What if just one or two of these hours a day were spent digging into more in-depth explorations of the world as only the written word can provide it? (Yes, that’s my opinion. The more proactive act of reading is sturdier than the act of absorbing passively whatever they throw at you on the television. And I can make a great case for it. Stay tuned.) .
Don’t give up TV entirely for reading...just give up two-thirds of it. Or start with giving up a third if two-thirds is too much.
If you don’t have a reading habit, start it like any other new habit. Start slowly, start small, establish goals, and keep at it. Create a reading hour or two everyday and choose your reading material for both entertainment / interest and for what you feel it might contribute to your life. I recommend switching between fiction and nonfiction, but I would not call that a rule. Reading either exclusively is better than reading neither at all.
