NOVEMBER 2008 (1
comment)
Family Matters: The gift of reading
By Ray M. Wong
At the beginning of 2008, I wrote about my
goals for the year. One involved my desire to volunteer to help
people learn to read. My reasoning for setting this goal
related to the fact that reading is one of the most precious
joys in my life. As a youth, I immersed myself in the science
fiction novels of Robert Heinlein and Frank Herbert and they
helped me to know what it meant to be “A Stranger In A
Strange Land” and to explore the world of
“Dune.” I went back in time to live in the
“Clan Of The Cave Bear” by Jean Auel. Stephen King
scared the hell out of me with books like “The
Shining” and “The Dead Zone,” not because the
supernatural happenings were so horrific (which they were) but
because he could take ordinary people, turn their worlds upside
down and bring us along to experience it firsthand.
Then there were the books that touched the
core of our humanity: “The Little Prince” by
Antoine De Saint-Exupery, “The Bridge Across
Forever” by Richard Bach, “The Prince Of
Tides” by Pat Conroy, “All I Really Need To Know I
Learned In Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum, the short
stories of Raymond Carver, “The Catcher In The Rye”
by J.D. Salinger, “For One More Day” by Mitch Albom
and the list goes on.
For many years of my life, as a child and
in adulthood, I didn’t relate well to people. I’m
one of those people that, in my unflinching honesty, say things
that get me into trouble. I always felt safe with books because
I could never say the wrong thing. They always accepted me, and
they never
judged me. They taught me, entertained me,
and like the best of friends, were always there for me. To this
day, they still are.
One of the biggest regrets and ironies in
my life is that due to being a writer, I don’t have as
much time to indulge in reading for pleasure now. That and
being a full-time husband and dad and working as a college
counselor have exacted their toll on my reading list. But I
savor the love of the written word like my wife’s warm
embrace in the middle of a crisp winter night. And reading will
always be important to me, so much so that I want to help
others experience what I cherish.
A few weeks ago, I started tutoring a man
through the county’s literacy program. Steve (not his
real name) has a dream. He wants to go to culinary school and
own a restaurant one day. In order to do that, he needs to
learn how to read. There’s a lot of shame for him in
admitting that he doesn’t know how to do something that
for most people comes as easy as brushing their teeth.
It took a lot of courage for him to reach
out. He’s motivated and driven to learn, and I have no
doubt that he’ll succeed. It’s a privilege for me
to be there with him on his journey. And if one day, he can
experience just a glimmer of the joy that I get from being
transported to a different world through the magic of books, I
will feel that I’ve made a difference in the world.
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Comments
From: Marshall Hamil
Subject: Literacy Program
Posted: 11/3/08 2:42 p.m.
Ray Wong ~
Stick with your program.....
Years ago, I tutored in the Carlsbad
Literacy Program
The ‘kid’ I worked with was
Iranian, and I learned as much about the world from him, as he
did about English
from me.Marshall Hamil, MEdProfessor
Emeritus, HUMAN
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