As I was growing up, I was the kid in the back at school that enjoyed spending time inside more than going out and playing in the playground. To me there was nothing wrong with enjoying a book against getting bullied out on the playground. Not being a big kid at the time (my growth spurt happened during late high school years) my protection was found bound with glue and paper.
My ability to read and comprehend at an advanced level left me with little options but to go to higher graded classes for my reading. In first grade I would be found 2 hours a day sitting in the 5th grade class listening and reading at even a more advanced level than they could. This added a little bit more of isolation from both older kids as well as younger kids.
Do you remember how the kids were able to order books from the Scholastic book learning program? This system is what introduced me to Sherlock Holmes, Encyclopedia Brown and a vast amount of characters. My eternal thankfulness to my mother for providing me with books to read. Where we might not have been able to find the money for the newest play toy to be lost in the closet three weeks later, there was always room for books from the local store.
This book buying program was also where I first learned to be prepared for anything. 16 kids in my 2nd grade class would order books. The latest in Babysitters club and other younger reading books would be ordered. Some of the kids in my class wouldn't touch a book even if they were told there was a dollar bill in the middle. Some of my fellow classmates would look and find one or two books. Almost always when it was book delivery time there were two boxes. One box that served the needs of the other 15 kids in my class. One box that would almost be entirely my books as well as any 'free' things they threw in. Even at that time I knew the value of books in my life. The smell of freshly opened pages that I could find my next adventure.
Through books and my love for them I also learned that not everyone would understand. Many trips with my church group I would have five or six books in a bag as well as paper and pencils for writing. The first thirty minutes I would find myself reading why other kids in the back told the latest fart joke they had heard. Bouncing up and down on the seat was their favorite past time to waste time and energy. Someone would spend some of that energy teasing me that I had my head stuck in a book hiding from the world. Having put on my paper armor from the start I ignored them as they found some other prey to attack.
But the same occurrence happened time and time again. Somewhere during the long arduous trip someone would sneak up on me and sit at the bench across from my paper fortress. Clearing their throat to get my attention they would silently ask if there was a book they could borrow. Even a piece of paper and a pencil so they could pass the time. No one had been presented with a better opportunity to strike. Entering my domain in supplicant and expectation that I would feed their need. Boredom taking over their existence for a moment. Time had presented me with a belief that I could be the bully to them.
Then I realized even at that age they were just as lost in their own prison. Where I had my key to escape the cage of their own creation they had nothing. Cheap jokes and the latest entertainment were lost and they could come back to what they knew the least about. Knowing that the written word was freedom for anyone, yet it has been just beyond their grasp.
So I always had one or two 'throw away books' that I had second copies for. Having loaned out books before I knew that they would not come back in the same condition I loaned them out as. Usually after the long trips it would take me 10 or 20 minutes to find them in one of the seats or on the ground. It was my sacrifice to offer to the book gods to maybe win someone over to the light side of the book force.
Why now present a story of a disciple to not just paper and print. My doctrine and testament being found in between the pages of what novel strikes my wiles at that point.. Because books and communication has become a lost art form. In today's society the quick text message or comment has replaced long term skills in reading and writing. The book-a-holic conglomeration has hidden from the masses with our witty T-shirts and accepted geekdom status to allow others to take over the world.
Sometimes you present a story in case one person is hiding and not accepted who they are. A story passed on that everyone shares. Their first book love affair that no real romance can ever match. The first adventure that no one but you can believe or understand. First tears shed when your favorite character dies heroically. No one can truly understand but they all can share that story for others to read.
My name is Joseph and I am a Book-a holic
