Sad day in the library...

Well, it begins this afternoon when i went to Lot 1 in CCK to return my library book before going to the polyclinic.

While in the library i hunted the fiction section for my beloved fantasy novels. And while browing through i found my treasured book, The Hawk Eternal by David Gemmell. But thats beside the point.

While searching i overheard this little boy who ran up to his mother sitting on a bench in the library. He was carrying a this skinny yet big faced book, looked like one of em children stories. He was pestering to borrow the book but his mother refused.

What his mother told him, or what i remember of it was "Borrow for what? You cannot even read the words."

And the son retaliated with "But i know how to read the words!"

Mother, "But you read already also don't understand, read for what? Put back the book lah."

If this were to happen alot in Singapore, i guess that is why Singaporeans nowadays don't like to read much. Or why our children aren't as 'smart' or 'hardworking' as foreign students.

Reading in the past was a privellege left to the nobles or rich. Books used to cost gold in their weight. Nowadays people don't even know how to appreciate paper. But what made me sad, was that this mother could have allowed her child to borrow the book. Then whatever he did not understand she should either explain or ask him to look up a dictionary. I remember that was how it was for me when i was growing up and what i still do when i run across words i don't understand. This would cultivate a good reading habit, a greater sense of curiousity and a hardworking spirit in the young. But all ruined thanks to a mother who knows no better. I don't blame her, maybe she did not get a good upbringing or she was having a bad day.

Final words for the post. Maybe not everyone likes to read or not everyone has the imagination to read. But please do not restrict this right to our youths. And btw, DAVID GEMMELL ROCKS! So does Salvatore, Feist, Gaiman and many more, haha.