Reading

Reading has always been and continues to be very important to me. In a way this is surprising. I do not recall even one children’s book in my home as I was growing up. We were too poor to purchase them. I do not recall my father being a reader. Mother read to me-but only Bible stories. The elementary school I attended had no library. When I was in the 7t grade by some miracle Zion Lutheran School suddenly acquired some 70 books. Each was a 32-page condensation of a classic. Within three weeks of their arrival I had read them all.

I recall very clearly learning to read in the first grade. We used the famous series which featured The Gingerbread Man. I vividly recall those first few pages which read “I am a gingerbread man. I am, I am.” Then “I can run from you. I can, I can”. This was the basis of a long chart teaching us phonics. The top word was “man”. Underneath it (one word to each row) were words that sounded with a different  first letter e.g. can, fan, ran, tan, van. Phonics was drilled into us and it served me well.   

High school English emphasized grammar and not much literature, though we did have some assignment of novels. In college I became a voracious reader which I have continued to be throughout my life. It was through my reading, for example, that I found a spiritual and religious world of opinion far broader and challenging than what was taught in the very narrow prescribed texts of our Lutheran theological courses. Especially helpful in my years in Hong Kong the Monday night discussion session with fellow missionaries every Friday night. Most of us gathered with our colleagues and spouses. We spent an hour in Bible study and then another hour discussing a different book we had all read the previous seven days. Even though I was working some 60 hours each week I made it a point to read those books and then be challenged to reflect more deeply upon contents when we discussed them in the group.

I have now lived in retirement for more than 27 years and one of the great blessings of that is the opportunity to do much more reading. Daily newspapers (yes, I still read the hard copy) many magazines and tons of books (rarely fiction ), including many on that wonderful invention called Kindle keep me stimulated.

I reflect sadly upon millions in the world today who either have no access to books or who are permitted only to read highly censored state-controlled material. And I pray that my eyes and my mind will permit me to continue to have that simple yet profound pleasure of reading which all began with “I am a gingerbread man. I am. I am.”