The reason, the books and the vision

Being a godmother, an aunt and a fan of literature in general, it is obvious for me to write about the relationship between children, adults and the imaginary world in their books. Even before I have read some of the great literary critics writing about the nature of tales, the power of the mind, I knew how important is to read: to read at all and to read to others.
I have friends saying reading is useless. It takes away their precious time. I say the time we spend reading is the key for everything: managing our lives, relationships and ourselves. Reading develops our imagination and gives us a colourful picture of the world. When I walk home from work every day on the bridge, I see the playful line of uneven buildings on the riverside and my mind is triggered. I go home and sit on the sofa from where I can see the vast, grey river crumbling down in the middle if Budapest, I'm floating on it with my book.

Photo: Merényi György

Reading is important. Important for everyone in order to have a wide range of vocabulary, to use rich metaphors and images, to have a role model, to choose values. We learn the indescribable feelings, those huge emotions and the principles with the role models by reading tales, especially fairy tales. We learn about love from the prince who fought with the dragon. We see our father as the king who protects his daughters. The girls are Snow White and Cinderella, the boys are the Prince and the King. We then bring those characters to school and the playground, where we actually quote and say those elevated phrases. This is how we grow up.

During the different stages of life we have different needs to develop the required skills emotionally, mentally and to acquire a decent attitude towards our community, family, friends and work. This is what we can learn from the books: either fiction or non-fiction regardless of the period the book was published in. There are phrases, ideas and messages that are always true and worth knowing.

Unfortunately, we read less. I think in this case the individual's job is not to convince others to read but to read solely and set an example. It is the best way to teach: by doing and showing it. Reading on the tram, the metro, at home and in front of the children is the best way to motivate others to read. Everyone is interested in what you read on the metro, the children see you as someone very clever and wise with a book in your hands and they will copy you. Teaching our children to love the scent of the books, to get lost in bookstores and libraries is essential. What we have to do is to go there, because librarians and booksellers already made those places appealing, it is their job. Our job is to discover and use those spaces: for reading.

I think the easiest promise to keep is this. If everyone started the new year by dedicating themselves to books, we wouldn't have so many broken promises so far.