This Post is for FIRST COMMENTER CONTEST
I grew up at a time when
there were competitions held for READING.
Starting from our Primary
School to the Secondary School, we held competitions in Reading and that
reading had to do with books - all kinds of books.
In those competitions, you
would choose the books to read from a long list of books to be presented to you
and then you would summarize each book you have read.
And the winners always
emerged from the number of books they read and their ability to do a concise
summary of the books they read (what is now regarded as Executive Summary).
Those reading competitions
turned us in AVID and VORACIOUS readers and also good writers.
At 16, I had read almost
250 books on various subjects ranging from Spirituality to Esoteric to Romance
to Terror to Politics to Escapism to Crimes e.t.c.
I learnt to be a fast
reader and also a fast writer.
I was well grounded, all thanks to my early exposure to reading and writing.
But nowadays, I think that
culture has been lost.
People no longer want to
read, they are comfortable with the little they know as long as it brings food
to the table (as if life is all about bringing food to the table)
People no longer write
long essays. They are comfortable with bits and pieces that make little meaning
and when one writes a long essay, not many persons are willing to do justice to
it by reading it. Some just jump to conclusion with the title alone not knowing
what the content is all about.
Just this morning I
created a post on "Life Comes With No Guarantees or Warranties" and
in my usual characteristics, I shared it to some of my facebook friends; you
won't believe what one of them said to me - "sir, this is very long, can
you shorten it for me?" I was lost
for words and all I remember telling him is this "those who seek short
cuts to life end up being short circuited" and that's the basic truth.
It is said that why we lag
behind in almost every aspect of life is because we do not read. I read of a
joke where it was said that if you want an African not to know a thing, hide it
in a book and give the book to him or her to read, chances are that s/he would
never read the book and so would not know that thing.
We need to cultivate the
habit of reading, we need to cultivate the habit of writing long essays, they
are still very relevant even in this day and age.
Dr. Jerry - the First: JP
#DrJTF
The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading.
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