I was having a discussion with a friend of mine about how living in the Early Modern era would have been totally boss, at least that’s what I was arguing, because people were physically fit from all of the intense labour, they were generally healthier (fresh foods grown locally without pesticides, antibiotics and G-d knows what else) despite decaying teeth, infrequent bathing, etc. They were illiterate, for the most part– but there was a vast appreciation for life, I feel, that does not exist now. Yes, our society has made great strides in everything from women’s suffrage to stem cell research and the like and don’t get me wrong– I am very appreciative of all of those trailblazers who set forth on the path to greatness and discovery, only I feel there is a severe lacking of what once was.

When I was talking to my friend, he agreed but went on to discuss all of the innumerable successes and progress that was made, he mentioned literacy and then said something that really resonated deeply with me. He asked, rhetorically, really: “what good is literacy, what good is reading when you cannot intellectualize what you read?”

So I pose the question to you, reader: what is the value of reading if we only read superficially? Never really taking in the text? Never pausing to think and wrestle with questions? Better still, where are all the questions? It seems as though people have less of them. Whatever happened to intellectual curiosity? What becomes of literacy when we read publications lacking substance? It’s funny. I can remember my mother telling me when I was 7 or 8 years old that reading is wonderful, that she was happy I found books but I enjoy, but once I completed the “Goosebumps” series, that I should read more books of substance. You know, I never really understood what she meant by that, but now it’s all beginning to make more sense. So, like a good little girl, we would visit the bookstore and I would return with Anne Rice, The Confessions of St. Augustine with the Latin-English translations, Jane Austen and at the bottom of my pile there would be a Dilbert anthology followed by Christopher Pike (oh, I LOVED his Vampire series!). As an adolescent, these were the books that kept me intrigued, I transitioned from Young Adult Thrillers to Fiction which made me feel very mature. Even then, my mind was working… BUT! I digress. Again.

I think literacy is a wonderful thing and we should endeavour for all people from all parts of the globe to bask in it! But we must also teach the power of understanding and thinking. Only when we think can we truly exist; only when we reason can we be alive. Cogito, ergo sum.

In my mind, the Early Modern people had it together. Sure, only a few of them could read but it was mainly those few who published the text we revere today. What do you think?

When society was progressing during the Early Modern era (for societies are built to progress and then decline), they thought themselves moving forward to a greater good. Presently, we believe ourselves to be moving forward while in some instances we are not. However, I was speaking to two fellow flight attendants during a trip from the UK about how our society is declining: they agreed. Max Nordau, a favorite author of mine in part because he seems almost clairvoyant with his predictions while I do not agree entirely with everything he has to say, had it about right.

*SPOILER ALERT!!* Society is degenerating. When I look at cultural patterns and select from that pattern a singular thread (for example: the status of women from antiquity through Mary Wollstoncraft to the plight for women’s suffrage to women in religion, etc, all of those being threads) and analyze it based on the period in which it existed (it being the individual, thing or movement) I understand how to define progress. In short I suppose I’m trying to say that I contextualize. The same brothels that existed in London during the 19th century exist today; the same diseases that plagued humanity during the Renaissance we have cures for today while more insidious ones are discovered. See the pattern? With each step forward we take two steps back because so much of progress is pork barrel spending, tax cuts, oil, shafting children of a proper education all for what? To what end? Where will we be if Generation Z can read Maya Angelou but not understand what she is saying? If they can meter out morphine by simply thinking of the temporary remedy instead of a lifetime cure? If we can mail out economic stimulus packages without realizing why we need them..

Knowledge is taken for granted. The right to vote, for example, be it for African Americans or women, is a powerful thing that society has accomplished yet it is often taken for grated. In a sense, then, we take literacy for granted. Most Americans can read but what do we read? Do we think about what we are reading? I’m not so naive as to think that people have time to sit and ruminate, even in university the time you have to truly elucidate on a topic is limited due to course loads, extra-curricular activities, etc. And sure, we all need a huge pause button but that is not entirely plausible. Even I do not sit and think on every headline CNN flashes in my face, or any byline in the Economist nor do I mull over each event in my life and ask ‘why?’.

I still ask: how can we be literate if we cannot understand?