Why I Read

I believe that every person's answer to the question, "Why do you read?" is just about as unique as that person themself. For me, it is a chance to escape somewhere else, to another world where I don't have to think about anything that is going on right in front of me or around me. If I am struggling or hurting, it allows me to experience the pain of a character in the book rather than my own for a little while. I am able to experience their life and empathize with what they are going through. I read to keep my imagination flowing. While watching good movies can be great and entertaining, but everything is already laid out for you. There is nothing like reading a book where you are given the opportunity to f i l l i n all of the m i s s i n g  d e t a i l s. The possibilities are endless, and one persons interpretation of a book can be completely different from anothers. I read to become more knowledgeable. There is only so much you can learn by sitting in class, listening to lectures and doing worksheets. That's great and all, but why not read books based off of real life to learn if they are available to you? I read BECAUSE I CAN, because I have the opportunity to do so. There are so many people in this world that would kill to have access to the education and libraries that we have here in America, in Mason. I am so lucky and blessed to have had the ability to go to school for almost 13 years now, learning to read when I was just five years old. When I think about the amount of people that were simply not born in a place where this was not ever available to them, it bre/aks my heart. Even sitting here writing this, and thinking about all of these things makes me wish that I read more often than I do. My most common excuse is, "There isn't enough time!" We know how to read, we have so many books at our fingertips just waiting for us to open them and dive in, so why wouldn't we do it? It is a beautiful thing, and I feel I need to take advantage of it.