Being Illiterate

I believe we all have felt helpless and incapable of being unable to read directions in a foreign language. This is how I would think of being illiterate might feel, like being lost or being unable to communicate through speech. It is frightening to even consider of being illiterate. Especially after looking back at every book, magazine or yes gossip magazines as filthy trash as we know them to be that I’ve read. Not to mention how someone might not be able to function in a world like ours today where a person could easily be swindled out of their homes if they were illiterate.

            For me being illiterate would be immensely scary as I love to read books. As cliché as it may sound I’ve read books to my children when they were little right before bedtime. It’s almost like a right of passage that a child may later say they were read to as a child. I enjoy this time with them and being able to bond through reading. I believe introducing books early while children are small and helping them to read is encouraging. Especially since now that we have an overload of electronic devices at their fingers. Being illiterate would rob me of my time with my children and helping them to learn to read and expanded their minds. It may sound ridiculous that a story about farm animals can help expanded a child’s mind. I see only that it enables them make dreams of their own, use their imagination to create and be able to write and understand what they are writing. Being illiterate would not only hurt me but my children because as parents it’s our responsibility to ensure that we provide them with the tools to become whomever they are suppose to be. Illiteracy robs both a parent and child.

            I believe we all have taken literacy for granted we become careless with the belief that others have our best interest at heart. Isn’t that what we also teach to our children to help and assist others?  Though it’s ridiculous to even consider this because many people do not think of others but themselves how others behave towards one another should be proof of this. I recently was chastised by my brother for Text Speech on my Facebook account. It’s now in writing this that I understand even though this is a nifty way for abbreviating what we say, should we. Should a person who is literate make themselves sound and be perceived by others as being illiterate or are we all just hurting ourselves. My belief is that we are hurting ourselves because potential employers now have access to such sites as MySpace and Facebook. Our comments and thoughts can and in some recent cases may have been the decision for obtaining employment. Though these social sites are a way to express our own individuality it may also go further by hurting those who are illiterate. As these people require help from programs from public libraries that may receive funds through monies from Federal grants.

            For me being illiterate would be frustrating and scary. It would defiantly hurt my dreams of being a detective with the Sheriffs and especially bonding with my children by reading to them or helping them with homework. I would feel as though I were disabled unable to further any chances of being employed in a career that I’m interested in or provide for my family. This is why I strive not only for myself but for my family the importance it is to write and read.