People Who Read

It’s funny. None of my friends, until maybe last year when I started posting entries on MySpace blog, have ever thought of me as a writer… especially now that I have an official weblog. Sometimes I actually have a hard time explaining this to everyone I know. So conversations go sort of like this:

Friend A (a loyal reader): Have you ever read Jamie’s site?
Friend B: No. What kind of a site is it? Is she selling stuff over the internet?
Friend A: Haha! No. She has a weblog now.
Friend B: A weblog?! What the hell is a weblog? Oh, wait! Isn’t it one of those like personal diaries or journals? Who would like to read someone’s journal anyway? And what would be the purpose of such a waste of time? I don’t get it!
Friend A: Well, first, she likes writing and I think she does a good job at it. And second, she posts some interesting stuff for us to read. It’s very entertaining.
Friend B: Eh. I still think is a waste of time... a waste of my time.

Now, let me tell you something: if you're reading this blog (or just scanning through it), or any book or blog for that matter, you're a minority… Yes, believe it or not, you’re somewhere on an island alone and (sad to say) you’ll be there for a long time because you're outnumbered: 60% of the people in the world are like Friend B. You know, the world's a place way bigger than the internet, and the types of people who don’t read are more common in the world than the people who do.
Reading is the exchange of ideas and experiences that expands the mind and the imagination. People who read tend to think globally and be more open-minded. People who read are more likely to be more creative and socially active.
Just by having the tendency to walk into a bookstore and flip through books, you're already ahead of the game.
So you should be proud of yourself. And I thank you.