Why Books Matter

I remember learning how to read. I remember my mom on the sofa pointing at words and reading them out loud while I ingested it all: what the letters looked like on the page, the pictures, her intonation, and the stories themselves. There were so many feelings involved.

A photo of my mother in her most natural form: en route to the beach with a book, a smile, and her La Croix.

Those feelings guided me towards a future of insatiable, hungry, voracious reading that has since conquered my life. And you know what I have realized? Books matter. They matter a lot. Of all the valuable human characteristics in existence, I have always argued that empathy is the most important trait that binds and unites our species. In my experience, reading promotes empathy. People always say that a good book will transport you. A good book will take you to a different time, to meet different people, to expand your knowledge and feel what someone else was feeling in a certain moment, whether these characters are fictitious or not. Empathy is knowing that you will never truly understand a person until you have walked a mile in their shoes, and reading is a good way to try on a different pair of kicks.

I believe that reading lessens ignorance. I believe that reading is an act of therapy, meditation, adventure-seeking, knowledge-hunting, pleasure, leisure, academia, and more. Books can and WILL change your life. That is both a terrifying and wonderful fact.

If you are like me, and thirst for unique and beautiful experiences, you will understand that lurking behind each book cover, embedded in the pages, is an opportunity to uncover a life, a world, an existence that makes you ponder. It will make you think. You will love and you will hate, and you will FEEL. That is why books matter. Books will always matter, just the same way that history matters, or your future matters.

So with that being said, do not forget to read! Do not forget to support your local book stores, or visit the local library. There are so many possibilities for exploration and understanding, if only you will flip open the front cover and see what that first page has to offer.