Ucapan Tokoh NILAM Tahap Rakan Pembaca 2013: Reading Maketh a Full Man

Reading maketh a full man: this quote from empiricist, Sir Francis Bacon, is what everyone takes as the complete truth, or at least adults do. Day in, day out, they tell us: ‘Go read your books’, but to no avail. However, when we do get our noses into a book, it would be in Facebook. Why is it so, some may ask? Let us take a closer look into the situation.

Firstly, let’s not kid ourselves. Reading alone doesn’t make you a genius, nor does it endow you with superpowers. Stereotypically, bookworms aren’t warmly accepted into friendships, but are rather kept at arm’s length at best. These days, adolescents are more interested in playing computer game, where we control the action; or go on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter or Myspace, which has become yet another way we can interact. In short, we prefer action and expression over passively following a text, and that is actually a good thing!

As a matter of fact, in this fast-changing world, it is the proactive and expressive that greatly influences the world. However, does that mean that we would achieve great things if we just do things randomly and shout our thoughts out loud on the roof? Obviously not! This is where reading comes in. Yes, reading alone won’t amount to anything, but if you think about what you’ve read and use it in your everyday life, and then it would inspire you to work wonders, one step at a time.

As an example, let’s say you read about the stars in the night sky, and you got stranded in the middle of nowhere with no hand phone reception and no compass, just with a map and a torchlight. If you could really use what you have read, you should be able to get back to civilisation by using the stars above as a way to navigate yourself.

Hence, as a conclusion, it is not reading that makes a full person, but rather, how reading inspires action which would ultimately make the full person come to being. With that, let us all read up on a vast array of subjects, and use them to change the world, one step at a time.

 

Kiwan Richard

 

 

Published in Niexter, The New Straits Times