Past, Present, and Future

“Pick up the book and read it QUICKLY! I want to hear you read”, my mother demanded. This ongoing memory of picking up a book and read it aloud quickly with no mistakes terrified me. It would scare me not to read because I knew that there would be consequences if I didn’t, I felt like I had no other option. The struggles of reading ended when my stepfather came along. He taught me the importance of reading, which was the need for personal growth as well as my mother. My mother helped me develop skills for working very hard, demonstrating strong leadership skills, focus, and precision. This reminded me of Harry J. Stead’s comment in “The Purpose of Life Is Not Happiness”: “without [growth] you have no purpose, no purpose = no happiness”. I needed to read to grow and know what my purpose is. But how would I know that if I don’t read? If I can’t read how will I write?
In general, reading was not an activity I eased into. My stepfather, however, evoked a hidden passion through encouragement and imagination which enabled me to read everywhere and at any time. He was a writer himself; he would write books about how he encountered life’s many obstacles and what he learned from these struggles. His love for books made me curious about my stepfathers’ fascination about non-fiction books and after reading it to myself I developed a love for these books. Like Sherman Alexie and his father in “Superman and Me”, his father loved books and so he decided to love books too. One of my favorite books is “The Art of Seduction” by Robert Greene which investigates the power of seduction and what ways the seducer takes control. Especially, that Greene’s writing style is non-fiction and “he reads 300-400 whole books to research for each work.”(amediumcorporation.com) What I liked the most about this book is how they use examples of historical figures, which captures their audience and explains how to get power in different ways. A quote that I loved from this book is, “Much more genius is needed to make love than command armies” by Ninon de L’ Enclos. Due to, that there is more thinking involved in making love than commanding an army because love is hard to make and control, no one know how it happens and when. This quote relates to my literacy because reading also introduced me into reading between the lines, by using my knowledge and putting the pieces together about what the literacy could really be about. Reading is not just about reading a book it is about understanding the message the author is trying to say.
Furthermore, copying down the whole passage on the state exams was my way of writing, when I was younger. It was my hate for copying down other words that sparked the idea of learning how to write on my own. But that was after I received in the mail, a letter, that I would repeat the 4th grade. It stated that if I did not pass the state exam, the English portion, I would be left back. My teachers and my mom were a big help in improving and developing my writing skills. The more feedback I got from my work from my teachers, the more improved as a writer. Something I remember my mom telling me was “a yellow cheese bus will come and get you. Why? Because that’s where the kids that don’t know how to read and write go”. This really frightened me because this saying push myself to work hard to stay as far away from that bus. The reason why my mom told me this was because she used to receive phone calls about my bad behavior from my English teacher when I was in the 4th grade.
Not to mention, learning how to read and write was very important to me because in the real-world you are going to need these skills to express your thoughts about a book or even being able to fill out a personal statement for a job. Something that I like to write about is what my future goals and aspirations are. For instance, one of my main future goals is to become a plastic surgeon. As quoted in my college essay “with the ultimate goal of helping others to achieve individual recovery, self-esteem, and long-lasting self-love” therefore I want to become a plastic surgeon. Writing is essential because writing these game plans always keeps me on my feet and looking forward to what is the next.

Learning Never Ends

For the most part, the beauty of reading and writing is that there’s still more to learn and be aware about it. Reading and writing give purpose to have personal growth, good communication skills, and general guide to help prepare you for an adventure. Again, like Sherman Alexie journey connecting with his father through reading, my stepfather exposed me to reading and that sparked the idea that learning was endless. As an adult, I still read and write, and I enjoy it very much because it took a lot of hardships to expose me to my love for reading and writing.