Why make yourself miserable by thinking? This has been the mantra of many Americans for decades. So we ask, what leads to thinking? Of course we all think at subliminal levels constantly. But, the thoughts are benign. When will the next “Hunger Games” movie be released? Which celebs have had Botox treatment? Everything Kardashian. And how do I make more friends on Facebook? Then, more serious topics, how do I feed my family? How do I advance my career goals? Or, more commonly today, where do I find my second job? The swirl of solutions to the above questions involve talking with coworkers, networking with new contacts, family discussions, and arguments. These are vital issues, but in the realm of thought, limited in scope. The discomfort in these items results from the action, not the thought.
More solutions come from another source, unpleasant for many and downright painful to others. Reading. I taught creative writing in high school. On the first day of one session I wanted to be sure students, who all seemed quite anxious to write, were aware of the work ahead. So, I announced that anyone who doesn’t like or is unwilling to read doesn’t really belong in the class. I expected a few to leave, trotting down to the counselors to drop the course, but was amazed when approximately half the students rose and left the room. Reading, I realized, is even less popular than I suspected.
So, why is reading so important for students who only want to write? Because something cannot arise from nothing, short of the creation of the universe, and even that is in question. True, students are not devoid of ideas, but are usually at the lower limits of compositional skill. They need a foundation to build on, and reading is the best way for this to occur. Absorbing carefully crafted thoughts transmuted into the written word allows a kind of synaptic expansion, combining an understanding of what is already known with the shaded interpretations or even opposing opinions of others. Reading provides new ways of arranging thoughts and ideas. In the context of the general public it provides a mental armor against the blather of sound bytes, hearsay, gossip, and the empty media blitz that assaults anyone who depends on Network programming as a source of news.
Of course books, especially progressive material, are not popular in the media. They lack that instant buzz so necessary to entertainment, the short-term emotional high people have come to expect. But with some effort, perhaps great effort, we can transform ourselves into communicators. Just as students in my writing class needed a foundation for new ideas, the public needs a foundation on which to recreate what we have lost as a nation, the informed exchange of thoughts that leads to compromise or even toward a radical new direction.
Human nature resists change, but in a nation of over 300 million people the process is monumental and requires decades. Aided by the media, issues often become trivial and disagreements become petty, no matter how inflamed. The exchange between opposing sections, whether about health care, the military, the inequality of wealth, can only progress by means of informed, critically aware participants. In any disagreement, the easy path is the emotional one and usually the most passionate along with being the least productive. The more difficult path, the one that leads to national course correction, is based on information, consideration of it, and the willingness to be open to ideas. Reading engenders such an open attitude toward the opinions of others and an acceptance that alternate solutions are possible even though they aren’t our own.
