Literacy is so much a part of my everyday life that I can't think of life or a world without it. Every day I wake up, put on my glasses, and start to read. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who wakes up at four in the morning so that I have time to ponder the scriptures for hours in the morning. What I mean, is that I read the world around me. I read the clock and decide how much I need to hurry. I read the conditioner bottle and think wait, have I already shampooed? I read the milk carton- its almost expired. Without even thinking about what I'm doing, I am constantly reading the world and making decisions.
I remember when I was just starting to read, I would sit in the back seat of our car and try to read everything I could see out the window. I discovered that I was missing a lot of words as I tried to sound out "Jefferson Street" or "Pre-Owned Vehicle", and I quickly got frustrated. "Mom," I'd say, "How can you even know where we are? I can't read the signs fast enough to figure it out!" I don't remember where or when it was, but I distinctly remember her saying, "Mikell, someday you'll read everything that passes by without even having to sound it out." That concept was amazing to me. How could a person read everything, and not even have to sound it out? I didn't believe my mom at the time, but one day I found myself doing it, reading everything without even having to try.
I have also become a consciously literate person. I'm in college, where much of my time is spent pouring over the words of researchers and scientists in my field. I've had to learn how to make sense out of all this information coming at me, even though it sometimes feels like trying to take a drink out of a fire hose. I try to choose to read as well, be it reading the news online or actually sitting down to read a novel (though I think I might be forgetting how to do that one.) I write too. Though its mostly for school, I also like to journal or write blogs.
One of my earliest memories is seeing my big sister read, and then begging my mom for her to teach me to do it too. I remember how proud I felt as I "read" that "Bob Book" (you know, "Sam sat on a mat. Matt sat on Sam. A cat sat on Matt and Sam..." that kind of thing) and got praised day and night for it. "Have I told you that my three year old can read?" my mom would say to anyone who would hear. I wasn't embarrassed, I was proud. My mom thought I was a child prodigy, and I thought I was smarter than my big sister, which was all I really cared about.
Now, when I read and write I feel like I learn so much about myself and my relationship with the world. I get this feeling, a sort of affirmation that life is something that I can come to understand. I get a feeling of discovery that improves my confidence that I can come to learn anything. It also brings more full understanding of other people. As we communicate, we can come to know other people and their perspectives on the world. The joy of learning and doing so through the different forms of literacy- reading, writing, listening, speaking- brings the clarity of understanding into our lives.
