In Praise of the Slow Read

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading....Nehemiah 8:8.

I would like to thank Mr. Jeremiah Jacques for sharing the link to a lovely site, "A Time To Cast Away Stones", on his Twitter page. This morning, at that site, I had the pleasure of slowly digesting an article about reading. It is entitled, "In Praise of the Slow Read" .  I am grateful to the author of this article for his eye-opening comparison of two 10th grade students, one from the year 1995 and the other from 2011, both assigned the same homework: To give an oral report on "Sherpas". 

I have heard news reports that many graduated students today are coming into the work-place unprepared for the process of actually working. This is because they have become so accustomed to having everything handed to them in school and at home and they have become spoiled and expect the same treatment on their jobs. The mentality of some of the younger workers is that they are doing their company a service by even being there. And they seem to question what the idea of working is all about anyhow. 

The ability to create a hand-written letter is becoming obsolete as well in our society. The technology of today is teaching people to write in a shortened script that contains abbreviations for words instead of actual words.  How sad that we are losing the ability to communicate with one another outside of phone texting lingo or chat room abbreviations.

I enjoy words. I enjoy writing.  I love the feel of words on the page of a handwritten letter that I'm composing.  It's a wonderful experience to compose your own thoughts and add them to paper one real word at a time.  It's like having a glass of really good wine and sipping it slowly savoring the scent and then the delectable taste. It's like seeing a new recipe for a great tasting dish come together in your own private kitchen. 

Reading, writing and even spelling are studies that most of the young people today are not learning properly.  That's sad.  To think about all the wonderful books that they are missing out on reading, fine books, like Jane Eyre. 

I hope that some day in the World Tomorrow the art of reading and writing will
be restored.

The author of "In Praise of the Slow Read" wrote that we should not try to fill our minds with everything there is to read in the news, etc., but that we should take a few of the best books and read them over and over, studying deeply those few books so that they have an effect on our lives.