Reading as an Exercise of Trust

Growing up, reading was a focus for my father and I.  we didn’t live in a home with a large library.  there was no joycs, hemingway, james, or camus laying around.  but, we did have some focus on reading as an important part of our relationship.

each night my dad and I would sit and read.  at a young age, he would read to me.  i would follow along with the words or pictures.  his forefinger would move below the words so i was sure where we were.  after i began to recognize the words, we would split paragraphs.  he would read one and i would read one.  later, we would split pages:  1-for-1.  even later, i would read entirely to him.  he would doze and love every minute of it.  when i would stop, his eyes would open and he would grin saying:  “why did you stop?  i was just getting into it?!?”

in middle-school he stopped reading. i can clearly remember the last book he read:  Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.  he couldn’t put it down!  he read for hours at a time, sitting in his leather armchair.  after Jurassic Park, there was no more.  maybe the occasional newspaper or TIME magazine or (if i was lucky) Reader’s Digest.

I felt betrayed.

when i was in high-school and consuming books each semester i would offer him to read along with me.  he would gently refuse, claiming the need to do something else.  with out realizing the impact of these refusals, he continued to refuse even through college.  by the tiem i was in my second year at Michigan State, my trust in reading had greatly eroded.  “if my dad doesn’t read, then why should i read?” - i found myself asking.

the journey back to reading began for me a few months ago….

it was the journey in which i figured out what reading is truly about:  deep sincere trust.  the book that taught me this was Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  not exactly a groundbreaking novel, Pillars of the Earth was simply captivating.  Follett brought me in, built up our relationship and was supportive and loving throughout our time together.  it was beautiful.

but, before Follett i had lost the trust.  it started with my dad’s loss of love and continued as i read what authors called “literature”.  they were full of trifling detail, ridiculous storylines, plots as shallow as the puddle in my driveway and characters as mundane as ben stein’s intonation.  with so many pieces written with so little care, i became jaded with writing.  i lost the trust that writing had bestowed upon me at a young age.  the trust that i would never waste my time and energy reading something worthless.

fastforward to the students of today.  these young people’s trust is being drastically eroded each time they read something that is so poorly writtne that they cannot make it past page 3.  to further erode this relationship, young people are indoctrinated with horrible television and even more horrible movies, not to mention crappy music and worthless web content.

all of these things work inward to wipe away possible trust baring fruit that is growing in our younger generation.  reading is a deep personal relationship between the reader and author.  a relationship in which the reader trusts that the author will provide them with a deeper meaning of life or a more genuine outlook on the human condition.  the challenge for the author is the ever-changing face of media.  s/he must compete with factors that erode the trust of young people even more than poor writing.

the question of our generation is quickly becoming one that challenges the notion of media today and the social responsibility of those who provide insight into our lives.