Reading Advice...

Here is another great quotation, sent to me from Renee:

"Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."

- P.J. O'Rourke

Of course, this assumes that you DO read.

Now, I know that you read, because you have come to this blog. But trust me, some people will tell you that they do not read. They will say it in a way that suggests they have arrived at some highly-developed state of being in which one need never read. Because one has everything all figured out. Already. Or someone very close at hand to tell them just what they should think.

Not terribly long ago, I heard a long-in-the-tooth woman say, very proudly, with a contented smile, and in tones that implied that the person in question was on the right track, "My husband NEVER reads a book."

Come again?

Once I got over being dumbfounded, nonplussed, at a loss as to what to think, say, or do, bewildered, perplexed, confused, and so forth, I realized that she really did think that among the higher virtues, Not Reading was right up there with washing one's hands before dinner! (No I am not making this up).

And then I thought about the way she and he lived their days...

And it made sense. That he did not read.

You see, she kept her husband busy repairing, remodeling, weeding, painting, trimming, planting and uprooting, puttering (and muttering), putting up this and taking down that, (putting up with her, etc.), installing, rewiring, repaving, cleaning out and cleaning up, and getting this and that just so (and this was just inside the house, who knows what went on outside).

No, wait...

Come to think of it, she kept him busy doing her bidding there as well, and I don't mean just in the front, back and side yards. In fact, he lived his life more or less like one of those tin wind-up toys. She would wind him up in the morning and he would go about doing whatever she wanted all day until he wound down again.

Trust me, there was a lot on his to do list. None of it had anything to do with reading a book. He seemed perfectly content. Then again, so do the apes in the zoo.

For now.

Hmm... I think I will send the poor fellow a book...

Luke tells us, about Jesus:

"He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him."

...and...

“What is written in the Law?” Jesus asked. “How do you read it?”

I think Jesus has the right idea. So does Mr. O'Rourke. Read a book! For heaven's sake, read a book!

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