Reading - a gateway to knowledge

Reading was no fun for me till 1999. The only materials I read were the magazines: The North East Sun and a Crime magazine. Besides them, items to read were disgusting.

Then later part of 1999, half-hearted I arrived my Bible college in Chennai. The principal was a very godly person and a veracious reader of books.

One of his goals was to enable each one of us to love reading books. He said, “I want to teach you so you will love reading when you are 60 years old.” I never forget that statement.

He shared his passion for reading and learning.

Whenever, we visited our library, we saw lots of books he signed. He read some of the books when he was 10 or 12 years old.

He shared the current books he is reading and how he is reading. Those are good for us to understand.

Five years I studied under him. During that period I began to read at least a book per week. Those days I could point out where a particular title could be found in that huge library.

Not only me alone. My whole batch of friends became good readers. We had good stuffs to share regularly. Our free time became sharing of thoughts and ideas.

Now its 7 years since I graduated. I believe still I read well.

Yesterday, a friend of mine who stays with us during vacation commented, “I haven’t seen mapha (teacher or pastor) read that much. Is it that really necessary to read that much?” I said the more you teach, the more you will need to learn.

Throughout my life, I’ll never forget my principal’s inspiration to love reading and keep learning.

Today if you are a good reader, inspire someone. If you are not, find someone who reads.

Liahey
April 15, 2011
A house without books is like a room without windows - Heinrich Mann.