The Power of Books
Travel with me…………….
The earth is an exceptionally large place, but infinitely small when compared to the universe. I have an insatiable need to learn and travel. Thankfully, I find that what I see in the pages of books can fulfill that need. My imagination allows me to not only learn about, but to see what the author is describing. It is much less expensive that actually traveling, but even so, quite satisfying. I love to read and do so whenever I can.
When I was a young girl, I traveled with all the young girls in the books I read. I worked one summer at a resort in the Catskills. I went along with another young girl to help settle a colony in Australia. I lived on a farm and learned to ride and care for horses. I traveled the ancient world with a nomadic group of cavemen. I lived in a harem with 300 other women whose only job was to sit around and wait until one man wants the company of one of them for one night. I was captured and kept in a cage as a prize to the Sheikh of another harem. I did not just read these things in my books. I lived through them in my books and continue to do this today.
Most recently, I helped solve murderer in New York, a city I don’t know and have only visited twice in my life, and for less than a day each time. I learned to be a detective by trial and error and putting myself into danger to get the information I was looking for. I lived through an apocalypse and traveled all over the United States with a group of survivors. A sleeping magic was awakened inside of me and I discovered I was a member of a race of people who had special powers. I was called upon to help rule those people and to help save the world. The more I read, the more I become my heroine, the more I learn, not only about our world, but also about possibilities. Since none of the books I read are non-fiction, nothing is real. However, I step into one of these books and my perspective is changed forever. I have new experiences. I grow in ways that I never thought were necessary. I become a new me.
Our children have grown up in a world where electronics are abundant, at home and at school and in the workplace. As children ourselves, we had encyclopedias that were our research go-to. These days, all our research is done online. We don’t have to get out and go to the library to find reference books, Google has it all. Wikipedia has information on everything. Britannica and World Book encyclopedias are both online, and updated constantly. We, as parents and grandparents must encourage our children to read. Print books are quickly becoming dinosaurs and will eventually disappear if we don’t stop it by continuing to embrace them and to buy them. We need to teach our children to love them as we do. We need to teach them to use their own imaginations instead of looking for instant gratification by using electronics when their own brains are clearly the better choice for inspiration.
As humans, we are made to be curious. If we don’t exercise that curiosity and keep looking for more knowledge and stimulation, we will stagnate and become bored with life. We’ll sit in front of the television and watch meaningless sitcoms or play games on our electronic devices and never leave the house because all our stimulation comes from within. It is up to us to make sure that not only do we keep ourselves free from idleness, but also our families. I only hope that as a writer, I can make you, my reader, see what I am seeing, feel what I am feeling and learn what I have learned about traveling the world and the universe through the pages that I write.
