There are so many things that I need to do in my life that involve reading and writing. Everything from reading an article on the internet right down to reading a street sign. It’s so hard for me to imagine being illiterate.
I used to find it hard to believe that in this day and age people don’t know how to read or write. I understand not being able to read or write in English, but not being able to do either at all is a completely different story. Which is why I was so amazed a few years ago to find out that my boyfriend’s uncle was illiterate. He can only sign his name.
This, obviously, has made it somewhat hard for him in life. He never had a very well paying job throughout his life, he’s never moved out of his parents house even though he is now headed towards his 50’s. When he gets a prescription of medication he needs to make sure that he knows which pill is for which because he can’t read the name of it on the bottle. He doesn’t read the newspaper. He never obtained his license because he can’t read the manual or take the written test. He can’t be alone to sign documents because he can’t read them. He can speak two languages but he can’t read or write in either of them.
When I heard all of this about his uncle, I just couldn’t imagine living my own life like that. I live in a community where most people I know can read. Even if they can’t read well, they can still read and sound out words. They know how to use a dictionary. I’d never heard of anyone dropping out of school in the second grade. Yet still it amazes me that he doesn’t want to learn how to read or write. Perhaps it’s the pride or maybe even shame, but I would think it would be better to at least try in order to be just a little more independent.
I think of it as what the slaves in the earlier history of America must have gone through. There must already be a feeling of being powerless because of the slave owners and all of the horrible things they put their slaves through but on top of that telling them that they are not allowed to read had to make life so much more difficult, especially when planning to escape. I know things are much different now than then and maybe reading is a bit more important now, but I think that if I weren’t able to read or write I would feel inadequate. Just by knowing that slaves would try to teach each other to read or that some white people would try to teach them to read as well shows exactly how important reading is to us as humans and to our culture. It is the easiest way of giving out mass information. It helps us organize our thoughts and can connect us even though at times we can be so different. I definitely feel that it can make us think more, understand the world a little better. It is unfortunate that people are still illiterate in this day and age and I think it’s a struggle that we really need to help people with.
It's very interesting, but a little sad that there are still illiterate people living in America. I too have a hard time imagining what it must be like to not read at all. It must be very hard to live life in an age like this, where reading is a mandatory skill, that seems so second-nature to us.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that your boyfriend’s uncle speaks two languages, but is illiterate in both. I wonder how he learned the second one? I knew a person that speak two languages, and are illiterate in one, but that was because she was born in Mexico and was adopted to the US when she was five years old, so she never learned to read and write in Spanish.
I couldn’t imagine missing all the opportunities I have by being literate. I would never had the chance to learn so much as I have without being able to read! I was told as a very little girl that I could learn anything I wanted to from books. I never realized quite how much that was until I actually learned to read. My parents little trick to push me to try and read worked way better than they ever expected!