COMMUNITIES

Off to Wonderland
Ria A. Marifosque, Hoofprint Co-moderator and Grade 6 English Teacher

Posted Wednesday, 16-Nov-2005 3:26 PM  

      Ah… books, books, and more books. What would life be without them? I personally couldn’t imagine mine without books, mostly because my life has never been without books. Since I was a little girl I always had story books and picture books and even coloring books by my side.

      Until today books are always present in my life. Actually, my life right now still very much involves books; I use them to teach grammar and reading skills to dashing young prince charmings. It’s a bit of a struggle to get these young men interested in reading even a short story because most would rather play online games or watch wrestling. I was overconfident that I’d be able to infect my students with the same passion for reading that I had and turn them away from their computer games. I haven’t had much success, but I’m not giving up that easily.

      I thought to myself, “Why are books, and literature, for that matter, being ignored nowadays? Why do most people prefer watching television or going online over reading?” Reading, for me, is such an incredible experience that I couldn’t completely grasp the notion that the people’s love for books is dying. People used to clamor for books, whether they were fiction or non-fiction; children’s, juvenile, or adult literature. Just 5 years ago when I got the news that I was accepted in my school of choice and got the course I wanted, I jumped for joy. I loved reading and I thought that being a Literature major meant I would be exposed to higher literature compared to the juvenile pocketbooks I had been reading. I wasn’t disappointed, although I did curse my literature teachers now and then for making us read some horribly boring stories, which, I don’t know why, are considered classics.

      Sometimes I wonder why we didn’t read bestsellers like John Grisham, or Sidney Sheldon, or Dan Brown. Those books, although they’re thicker than I would have preferred, are what I would have readily bought and read. I would have devoured every word, not stopping to rest until I have finished the whole novel. Now that is what I call reading. Pleasurable, distracting, fantastic. It’s not boring. Not dragging. Every page, no, every sentence brings a surprise, keeps you at the edge of your senses, like how a good action or horror movie keeps you on the edge of your seats.

      Aside from a kind of entertainment, I consider books a source of wisdom, which is why no matter how boring or corny one book is, I still regard it with some respect. Books stimulate our minds; whether we are aware of it or not, we learn every time we read a book. We learn history, just as we learned when we read The Da Vinci Code or Sophie’s World . We learn how to deduce, just as when we read Sherlock Holmes’ adventures. We learn about life, just as when we read The Little Prince. We learn so many things that don’t even have to be the moral or philosophical kind of wisdom or knowledge. In fact, it may be as trivial as the capital of Finland, or the correct spelling of the French word for “Miss”. The point is, we do learn every time we pick up a book and read.

      Lastly, books stimulate our imaginations. Unlike movies where everything is handed to our senses on a silver platter, with books, you have the privilege of using your imagination. You can shape your own world with the help of the descriptions in the books. They allow you to exercise your imagination, allow you to enter a world where you are excited, where you feel you are welcome, where you are at home. Yes, at home. Even in the midst of a war, in the midst of an epidemic, of the Great Depression, one can feel at home in the book. I don’t know why, but books draw you in and the next thing you know, you’re another soldier sitting next to a comrade whose legs have been blown off, trying to hold back tears while calling for the medics.

      What do we get from all this? What good do books and stories and poems and, basically, reading bring us? I’ll tell you what. For all the crying and laughing and screaming, you get the chance to step into another’s shoes, be somebody else even for just a while, and forget your troubles. You get to be inspired, touched, renewed, and educated. You get to relax and be entertained. And hey, since books are a source of wisdom and can stimulate both your left and right brain, you can come up with a way to solve your real-life problems and finally be happy. Wisdom and happiness. In a world as twisted as ours is right now, what more can you ask for?

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