When I was a kid, we didn’t have much. Things were tough in some ways. I was a stranger in a strange land and there was sadness about a lot of things. There wasn’t a lot of money, but there was family and support. Those things do make a big difference in a child’s life. Unfortunately, too many children today lack that family structure.
There were also books. My mom and grandmother were both avid readers and they instilled that love of books in me.
With books, I could go anywhere. I could escape into worlds that were new and different and exciting. I learned new words. In fact, when my parents sacrificed to buy us an encyclopedia set, I read through the entire set and I would do the vocabulary tests in the back and challenge myself to expand my vocabulary.
My mother delighted in that because she knew all that knowledge from those books would help me in life. That it would set me free to do whatever I wanted.
I still read. Not as much as I would like due to time constraints, but any moment that I can, I read the news, magazines, papers, and of course, books.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here since I know so many of you are avid readers. I just hope I can reach someone else to let them know that the power to succeed is something they can hold in their hands.
The power to succeed can be found in a book.
