| | I'm sitting in a public library . . . . . . In Newberg, Oregon.
'tis quite a place, with a number of books I wouldn't expect to see in such a "small-town" repository. Not only that, the library seems to be somewhat of a hub for community activities. It leaves me wondering why folks in the south are seemingly less literate than their left coast counterparts. Why is it that a town of 20,000 has so many more library patrons on this weekday morning than a much larger, better stocked library in Chattanooga, a city of nearly 175,000? The per capita comparison is embarrassing.
Why, oh why, don't people read?
I fear that public antipathy toward literacy is tipping the public opinion on library funding in many places (Chattanooga included - our system has already cut hours significantly at neighborhood branches to stave off continuing budget deficits). While it makes me feel very loved indeed to know that Hamilton county spends veritably hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece on me and the faithful few other users of the library, I can't pretend it will last forever. When libraries cease to be a centerpiece of public life (as many already have), I shudder to think at what future pitfalls await us.
Literacy (not just the ability to read, but, as Jaques Ellul says, the wisdom to know what to read) is a key to a civil society that even the most liberal of social tinkerers often fail to grasp in their planning. A willfully illiterate society is an unthinking, foolish society; one that will not care any more for the Word of life than it does for the words of wisdom from men.
Why, oh why, don't people read? |
| | Posted 6/11/2008 2:38 PM - 26 views - 2 comments
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