The Benefits of Reading

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Article in brief: Everyone has a different perspective, and from the writer’s perspective; reading is the only way we can go far in life.

Artwork by Maryam Zainal (@Maryam_Zainal)
Artwork by Maryam Zainal (@Maryam_Zainal)

Interests vary; some people have perforations that others don’t. However, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t venture into different fields.

With reading, our society is divided into two parts; the people who like to read and the people who don’t. Sadly, we rarely find an in-between. Reading has several benefits, such as relieving stress, the possibility of preventing Alzheimer’s and Dementia, improving our memory, providing knowledge as well as help in vocabulary expansion.

Unfortunately, most people look past all of those advantages and concentrate on the fact that they have to read long sentences with no pictures. Poignant how such minds refuse to comprehend that our society will only improve by reading, as simple as that.

It’s quite displeasing how they can go a whole year with the equivalent of zero books read. Reading has several effects on humankind, and it definitely changes the way a certain society thinks and acts. Heck, it can change a complete culture.

It’s safe to say that the way we live has been changed immensely, and it’s all thanks to the knowledge we have obtained from books. Books help broaden the mind; they make positive change possible.

Looking back at several statistics, it has been proven that illiterate countries have a higher rate of poverty and crimes, and we definitely don’t need that.  To prevent it, we need to raise awareness about how literacy matters.

We live in a country that defines dreams. We have many young achievers and they all happen to be readers. Coincidence? I think not. Getting to know different aspects of life and various experiences and adventures is key to opening up our mind.

Some consider reading a daunting task, to the extent where they relate it to work. Some teenagers absolutely reject living a new world through books because they believe that it’s boring, useless and a waste of time. “We’ll wait for the movie to come out.” is what they say.

I was one of those people, until a relative of mine told me to at least try reading before badmouthing it. Honestly, I wouldn’t be half the writer I am if it wasn’t for that day. Now, I’m absolutely in love with reading, it’s what I occupy my free time with.

Disappointedly, the current generation has many people with talents but they don’t bother to live up to their full potential. Instead, they fill their minds with nothing but mundane topics such as silly gossiping. They’d rather know who’s wearing who, rather than knowing who’s wearing enough courage to change the world.

What’s more upsetting is that they have the audacity to call this generation irritating and childish where they’re the cause of it. For every action, there are consequences so they should think twice before uttering a word.

This all happened due to abandoning books, and let me tell you that it will be our downfall. Leisure reading dropped so low, it’s completely unsettling. Reading is declining significantly, and that will only endanger our species.

What differentiates us from other living things is our ability to think, so we should work upon that. If you’re not a fan of books, read articles or newspapers; you have to be informed. Without reading, nothing will be special about us! We’ll simply be mindless organisms trying to find another task in our routine to get done.

The need to read is built in us, we only have to work on it. Make time for reading, even if it was for as short as thirty minutes a day or week. You will notice how the way you think changes and improves overtime.

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