Honestly, I used to dislike reading. I thought reading was a useless activity because we have to waste our time sitting on the bench, sofa or bed just to stare at a book for a long time — it is boring for me. But I was wrong. In high school, I faced a situation where I was forced to build a reading habit every day. Okay, I did it.
At the beginning of making the reading habit, I felt uncomfortable. Page by page I read. Eventually, in a third of the book, I began to find an interest in reading. Just interesting, not loving. I was more like writing than reading before. There are some books that I have read until finished. As a person who just liked reading, I need time longer than other people who loved reading that can finish one book in a short time.
During reading every book, I tried to understand what the author thinks, expresses, and shares. Slowly I found. I desire to read. On the other side, when I was a college student, it forced me to read much more. Doing an assignment, I need to read. Doing research, I need to read. Writing an article, I need to read. Doing a debate, I need to read. And much more that I need to read. Read, read, and read.
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, you more places you will go — Dr. Seuss
At the first time, I still didn’t understand why do we need to read first to speak and write. That question was answered when I was in the final semester. For submitting a thesis title, I had to read many journal articles to find research gaps, novelty, and goals for future research.
Previously, I thought making a thesis title was easy and simple. We just need to make a title based on the problem that happened. That’s it. Apparently, I had to read journal articles for more than five to find a unique title that has novelty and a lot of benefits for readers.
Reading one book is really not enough to understand a complex life. When we treat something with one perspective, it is unfair. We need to know another side to decide a way that appropriate to solve it. We need a ruler, not a scale to measure length. Thus, we need to read more to know what we have not known so that we can choose an appropriate thing in dealing with something.
The more that I read, the more things I will know. At the same time, I also feel like a stupid guy who needs to learn more. Furthermore, reading habit changes how I think and behave. In the past, I felt I knew about everything. But, yeah, I am just know-it-all. In the fact, I am dumb.
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body — Joseph Addison.
Someday, of my friends argued about choosing appropriate diction for one’s news. The one defined word “A” was BCD. While the other defined word “A” was EFG. Eventually, they argued the same topic but they used different perspectives. The one continues to be firm with his opinion and vice versa.
Then, the one tried to speak up. He said that we need to open our minds about perspectives so that we can be open-minded about problems. It is not simple when we finish reading one book, then we will know everything. He also said that human knowledge was limited and did not necessarily make a reference to dealing with everything.
To solve a problem do not only use one perspective but more. We don’t know which perspective that suitable for dealing with the problem. We should think first before speaking and we should read first before thinking. Then, we will be wise mankind in dealing with every problem.