Why to Read?

In this age of movies and social networking, few people (if any) bother to read books/articles. Who has the time, they say. Who has the concentration and patience, I ask.

With the advent of Internet and the information overdose we all are faced with, most of us have developed techniques to skim through text and not 'waste time' reading worthless shit. However, this habit of skimming has reduced our attention span (so has our habit of messaging). When we read an entire article in a few seconds or we text multiple people at the same time, we believe we are saving time. Unfortunately, we are reducing our capacity for joy. How many of us can really understand Shakespeare any longer? How many can appreciate Wordsworth, Keats and Shelly?
The answer is few, if any. The reason is that a Keats cannot be skimmed through in one go, neither can Shakespeare be understood in one reading (except by another Shakespeare of course). Like jealous lovers, they demand your complete attention before they open up to you. Fickle minded us, can never get these pearls.

Schools and colleges are resembling factories more and more. Each pass out is only marginally different from the rest of his batchmates. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

So the next time you get yourself an A in class, think of the thousands of others classes in the millions of other districts , where people studying the same course as you, got an A. Would you still be proud? What makes you any different from all those other A's? If 17 problems of algebra are good enough to make you a master, what's the point of being one?

"That's all cool ya, but dafuq can I do about it? Kill the other A's? "

Umm, not really. There are ways to distinguish yourself without adopting such drastic measures. The easiest one of course is , read. Not by skimming hundreds of B grade articles on the net, but the good ones that you just CANNOT skim. Yeah, there are plenty of articles out there which will make you think. Yeah, you heard me. Think.

These are the kind of articles which are not often shared, which aren't posted on social networks because they are not 'easy reads'. They can belong to any category, to any niche. You need to find them and you need to read them. Why? Because you wish to distinguish yourself. Because they will change you, they will challenge you and they will make you grow.

Reading is an art that sharpens the mind. It gives you knowledge and knowledge gives you power,money, fame, life etc etc. It gives you a new way to look at things, it expands your horizons. Who knows, the next book you read might change the person you are, it might lead to a startup, an enterprise, an idea that might change the world? It might lead to an idea that changes your life. It might contain the answer to your problems.

Ps : Please do share any worthwhile articles you find as knowledge grows by sharing.