. There is a power to the written word that can never be underestimated.
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Cape Town - There is a power to the written word that can never be underestimated. Like millions of newspapers around the world, here you are reading a column on a weekly page dedicated to books. It may sound like like a no brainer but books offer solace and a happy and safe space in which to spend any number of hours.
Reading gives a person that multi dimensionality that allows them to navigate the world in a more informed way. We can read about a dazzling multitude of diverse subjects. Find out about different eras and how people behaved in those eras from the prism of a created or real character described by the writer. Books that are fictionalised accounts can transport one deliciously to a foreign place ... be it a Greek island or a Thai jungle. It can put one in the mindset of a person who triumphs against horrendous odds. Inspirational... It can make us laugh, cry and just simply smile in wonder at the power of the descriptive written word.
Books can challenge, taunt, make one giggle or weep. One can immerse oneself for an hour or a few minutes. It is a cerebral activity that whichever way you look at it informs ... ultimately enhancing your mindset. Sometimes however I wonder with certain leaders whether they ever pick up a book and open the covers and delve into the incredible imagination and narratives that talented writers offer. When you listen to some world premiers speak, their astuteness and broad mindedness comes from the duty invested in them by the electorate that voted them in to be, amongst other attributes, well informed.
Of course they have a small army of vital assistants but the most enlightened leaders (as the adjective suggests) are those who tutor themselves through having read books and other such material about the history and current affairs of their world. It is books that offer a person the multi dimensionality and broader perspective that is ever so vital these days in not only managing one's own attitude but how one perceives the plethora of current events that is broadcast daily.
For example, reading books, some set centuries and decades ago, one learns and gets a greater understanding of how displacement has always been a primary result of wars and economic conditions. It causes us to view with greater compassion the people who are tragically caught up in the midst of their home country's turmoil.
Terrible fear and insecurity cause millions to have fled. Today we see masses of people fleeing from the current conflict in the DRC, the Syrian crisis and other countries where insecurity exists. Yet with easily accessible information on a myriad source of channels, some leaders appear to be to stubbornly ill- informed. One leader refers to Gaza as a 'neighbourhood' whereas it is a considerable strip of hotly contested land. Desperate immigrants in a certain powerful country, stealing over the border are referred to as 'mentally unstable, drug addicts, murderers' and more. Maybe some fit the description but many are simply just desperate. Yes, these days the spotlight is on the United States of America. And despite the new leader's claims, not all are mentally ill, dangerous, drug addicts and/or thieves.
If you READ books, you'll find descriptive and often heart breaking narratives of how and why so many immigrants came to be in the land of opportunity - dating back not only to the last century but several hundred years ago. It should be incumbent upon those who rule a country to have a more than basic knowledge of their land's history. And a lively and accurate information basis of the world. That once fashionable word "woke" comes into play here. Let's get more woke.
Reading gives knowledge and real power. Again, here's to the power of the written word.