Shade Tree Wisdom 2/21/08

Kind of drizzly out this morning. No, I haven’t been walking, except a bit around the house as he instructed. But I see the specialist next Tuesday and expect to get an OK for more moving around. I feel fine otherwise, thank you.

What caught my eye is an item about ‘read across America’. In a time when the printed word is all around, in a country we can read what we please, in an economy where skill of understanding is essential, reading has lost its luster. And this is an effort to make ourselves a nation of readers again.

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t like reading, for learning, for information, for understanding, or just for relaxing.

There is no pleasure greater than reading just for the joy of it. To grasp an idea, to enjoy the way the author explains the topic, to take delight in the way words are used, or savor a special line or expression. And to see how the story turns out.

Or to read history, and learn just why or how things happened, and are being done today. “I remember the days of old and consider what your hands have done" Psalm 143,5. Or read again a history of Lincoln and the days of the civil war, and see why this country treasures certain things.

Sir Francis Bacon said “Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, writing an exact man”. [For ‘conference’ we would say making a speech.]

And the age we live in makes reading seem non-essential. The internet is accepted without reservation, even though it is often used to hurt rather than help.

We are forgetting how to express ourselves. Read the letters to the editor sometime.

Then comes text messaging.

Ah, for a reader, one who enjoys a well-written novel, a mystery well structured, a history well balanced and even in its handling of materials, a biography showing often the struggles that person underwent, or a well-written travel guide, what better way to spend an hour or two quietly and fruitfully.

In the early 50’s a psychologist named Dr. Rudolf Flesh wrote several books on clear speech. “The Art of Plain Talk”, and “The Art of Readable Writing” among others. The books sold well and had a real impact on teaching people who cared how to speak and write clearly. And by the way he often quoted the parables of Jesus as examples – clear, taut, filled with meaning, and easily understood. Making their never-to-be-forgotten point.

Maybe this is enough for today. I am just glad, aren’t you, that the Bible we read and treasure is written clearly and is so easy to understand? It teaches me the one thing I really need to know, That “Just at the right time, Jesus came to die for sinners, of whom I am one". Romans 6.5

Reader, go and read some more.

GPD 2/21/08