Dirtside's Journal: Read? Pfttt

This morning I took Monica to the hospital because her cough had not gone away over the weekend -- if anything, it had gotten worse, so we figured she should see a doctor, just to be on the safe side. I was in the waiting room while she was with the doctor, and of the dozen or so people there waiting, only one other person besides myself was reading anything -- and they were reading a newspaper that they'd picked up from a coffee table when they arrived. No one else was reading. One guy was sleeping; everyone else was staring off into space.

It brought forth a range of emotions. I felt sorry for them; I also felt sad, and angry, and frustrated. I wanted to stand up and shout, "Hey! Why aren't you all reading something? Anything? Don't you people know that reading, knowledge, and education are all important to improving your lives and making the world a better place?!"

Maybe some of them were illiterate. Maybe they didn't have the energy to spare on the thoughts that reading inspire. Maybe they have a social disdain for anything that smacks of intellectualism -- [deity] knows we've had enough of that in the past thirty years. Later, two teenagers came in together and sat down. They both had Game Boy Advance units with them, and played nonstop until the time I left, never even talking to each other. Them, I can excuse; like the old saying goes, "Youth is wasted on the young." But the adults? I just felt lost.

Maybe it's arrogant of me... not everyone wants to read for entertainment; too people many probably get reminded of school, which even I didn't enjoy. But damn... imagine if people read, and learned, instead of staring off into space. Even if they just read empty trash, that would be better than memorizing the patterns on the wallpaper. Heck, even the Bible would be better than that! Just kidding.

strawberry fields

[rnd()]

The ones staring off into space were probably in the midst of some of the most vivid daydreams they've ever daydreamed. That person sitting in the plastic chair staring off into space in particular.

He was daydreaming. A vivid and unconventional dream. One that he would spend hours trying to teach himself lucid dreaming in order to re-enter. He was swimming in cool blue water alongside some friendly dolphins, listening to their happy clicking and admiring the simplicity and softly throbbing telegraphy of their poetry. The older of the two dolphins insisted on the ancient epics that told in vivid detail of the dolphins' myriad evolutionary ancestors that mankind has only glimpsed through the occasional fossilized bone. He listened intently as they swam.

Deeper they went until the water became dark (almost black if you looked straight down) and the sun reflected through the water's surface far above like an orange tic-tac disolving in the middle of a silver puddle.

He breathed the salt water effortlessly now.

Then the doctor called his name and he bid goodbye to the dolphins and went about the rest of his day.

Judge not

[Jherico]

You were in a hospital. Perhaps some of them were more concerned with the news they might get than diversion. Don't assume because they were not absorbing words that they were all slack-jawed yokels.

Your judging them by the fact that they were not holding any reading material is arrogance, and does smack of intellectual elitism. Especially your even the bible crack. That's just petty.

So what were you reading anyway?

Reading on its own shouldn't impress. If you want to try to impress, maybe you should try doing something more interesting, like writing.

If you want to judge, maybe you should have tried talking to some of those people first to see what was going through their minds. Or, better yet, try to avoid judging at all. It leads to zealotry.

Hope Monica feels better soon though.

You can lead a horse to water but...

[Zarf]

you can't make him think.