Literacy

Literacy and knowledge are valuable assets many of our ancestors died attempting to achieve, often times unable to grasp it. I am saddened to see the accumulation of evidence that our society--which currently has these advantages so readily available for the taking--continue to take it for granted. Too often I have come into contact with people who laughingly joke about not knowing how to read or the fact they simply don't feel like it. It is no wonder that such a mindset is accompanied by the basic inability to communicate clearly, thus resulting in unnecessary conflict and misunderstanding. This way of thinking is rapidly plunging our society into the thorny depths of ignorance in which many of our previous generations have met their demise. The increasing violence, intolerance and division are evident of this. But what, exactly, threatens to propel us back in time to repeat the fate of those who came before us? Is it the stress of challenging ourselves that we find intimidating? Are we just too lazy to think for ourselves, preferring someone else to do it for us? Maybe it's a fear of failure. Is that why many of us blame others for our stagnate way of living while we cower behind a sheer veil of lame excuses? Perhaps it's a combination of all the aforementioned.

Personally, I never saw the allure in allowing someone else to be the captain of my creativity or the pilot of my reasoning. Though, in the past, I have been guilty of falling into the trap of feeling that the objectives of others were superior to my own. Everyone, yes, everyone in our society is more than capable of stretching themselves beyond their comfort zone in order to increase their capacity. There are always new things to learn, new paths to take and new barriers to overcome. However, if we refuse to arm ourselves with the power of knowledge and literacy and apply it to our lives, we have basically surrendered ourselves to failure.