As a little girl, I saw Grandma rise before the sun to read the only book she has ever read. She read The Book she loved; she read It from cover to cover more than once. That Book connected her to spiritual freedom, emotional comfort, and eternal hope. Her testimony was "God taught me to read and write through His Word."
Reading is language acquisition. It's education. It's exploration and imagination. It's expansion. It's exposure. It's connection and curiosity. Reading is gateway to ideas, information, places, and freedom.
Developing healthy reading habits is as important as eating well and moving our bodies. It's one way we nurture our minds and intellect; give our inner childs (and actual children) permission to believe in the impossible; and step out of our worldviews and into others.
And there are so many ways to do it! Physical books, audiobooks, and ebooks mean that we can each read in the way best suited to us. Public libraries are equity promoters, and reading is a necessity.
One of my most firm convictions is that there's a link between freedom and literacy. I believe that the inability to learn to read and write is not only demoralizing and stifling, it's mental captivity. That's why anti-literacy laws were enacted by Southern slave states.
There are people who say "not voting is an insult to those who fought for that right." Honestly, I do not have that conviction, but I understand it. For me, not reading is an insult to my ancestors who lived and died on plantations and were denied even the right to take their minds elsewhere through books.
I do not read nearly enough. I am sad to admit that I browse and scroll more than I read. Still, I press toward to the mark. For me that mark is being a well-read woman.
