01/21/2025
While I’m sneaking away to read Onyx Storm, a conversation I had with my sister this weekend is circling in my mind & I have some thoughts. Reading can be so many things, educational, motivational, entertaining, escapism, thrilling, or thought provoking. We read for so many different reasons & no matter what you’re into (literally, *whatever* you’re into) good news: there’s a book for that.
But books have so much more power than we give them credit for. They give us a peek into someone else’s experience, into their thoughts and reasoning in a way we may never have access to otherwise. Authors give us new perspectives and can fuel a fire within us as we read the experiences of others. Reading these experiences gives us the chance to make different, more informed choices and learn a way of thinking we wouldn’t have otherwise had.
A lot of the political conversations I’ve seen or had myself recently are all rooted in the same issue: lack of understanding. I hear a lot of “I love them, but I don’t think that…” or “I love all people, I just don’t see why we need to make exceptions for…” and honestly what I actually hear is “I don’t know anyone personally that this will effect or that has been hurt by these policies before”.
So I beg of you: if you have strong feelings that q***r, immigrant, black or literally ANY marginalized group of people should have LESS rights, or should be treated differently, or are against YOUR values - please at least read accounts, or listen to, or watch something that gives you their perspective before deciding where you stand.
WE CANNOT HAVE OPINIONS OR MAKE POLICIES FOR PEOPLE THAT HAVE A DIFFERENT LIFE AND DIFFERENT CHALLENGES THAN WE DO IF WE DO NOT LISTEN TO OR UNDERSTAND THEM.
So, read a book. Educate yourself. Listen to the struggles and the experiences that others have had.
You at least owe humanity that.
I made this graphic because it’s what I know how to do. Share it if you feel inclined, but if anything please think about it. You have so much power to give.
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one” - George R. R. Martin
