Read and Heed

Peter's Journal February 19, 2008

One of the many joys of sight is our ability to read.  John Seeley lost his capability to read late in his life, and yet the void he felt was filled with loving friends who read to him.  Always ready to expand his mind, and the basic understanding of issues, John by example encouraged reading as a necessary ingredient in becoming someone new, someone whole. A human, when on the road to wholeness,  is always in the process of becoming someone else, and John felt that the teachings of others were essential in that process. 

During the 30 years I sat at the feet of this wise man, I have read, never to the level or extent of one like John, but I try and read every day and the longer I knew John the more I read. 

Whether sitting in the tub soaking (doctor prescribed) reading about fishing in New England from the wonderful “On the Water”, or on the treadmill reading of one of the many articles I receive daily about the environment from my clipping service, or the latest book at night (Which happens to be Leviathan – the history of whaling – informative, but sad) I try and remain open to new ideas. 

Reading is a delight that continues to inspire and motivate me.  I only wish there were three more hours in every day.  Maybe if we shorten each hour we could create a new system whereby each day is 27 hours instead of 24.  There is so much to read, so little time.

For the past ten years I have been collecting magazines with the American Flag displayed somewhere on the cover.  My library of historical magazines numbers around 2500 and spans the years 1845 to the present.  Reading from an early issue of Leslie’s or Munsey’s takes me back to era’s when the only way information was transmitted was via the printed word.  I do not suppose Guttenberg could have envisioned a world where visual imagery and computers dominate the way we retrieve information, but something has been lost when our imagination has been taken out of the equation. 

When I read the July 1927 issue of The Household Guest I was transported to a different time in a very real way:  “American daring has scored another triumph.  With nothing but the purring of his motor for company, but with a strong nerve and steady hand Captain Charles Lindbergh started his non stop flight across the Atlantic for Paris. All tourists to the European continent go to Paris, but probably none will arrive with such limited baggage for his comb and pocket hander kerchief comprised his baggage.”

As I read this my mind wandered, my imagination was engaged, and I became Captain Lindbergh flying the Sprit of St. Louis.  The power of the written word captures me to this day; especially when the non-fiction prose is so wonderfully crafted. 

When I am no longer able to see I will probably have at my disposal a new technology that will read books to me, or at least have a wider selection of books on tape than currently available (though they are diverse and educational), but the enthusiasm and anticipation that John exhibited when a reader came by to spend two hours reading to him can not be replaced by a machine.  Human interaction is desired throughout our lives, and when others take time to be with the elders and minister unto them a form of education takes place that is irreplaceable. 

I guess the learning for me is that the bedtime stories to children that we all remember is an art form that should be maintained throughout our lives. Dr. John Seeley, professor, student, mentor, and elder continued to learn until the day he die because of books that others shared with him.