"Wow did you see that new movie? It was so great! The special effects rocked." Movies, music, television, just some of the obsessions of our culture today. Children are enthralled with new TV series that have low morals. Teens spend hundreds of dollars going to the movie theatre. Some might say that popular entertainment is destroying human's minds and bodies. However, isn't reading still very popular? The popular habit of reading as a form of entertainment has not died, thank goodness. And it never should! No matter how many people claim that the popular entertainment forms fill our heads with nonsense and take us away from real life, reading will always be the only way to understand and believe in life as we should.
When I was little I sat in my small rocking chair reading Ferdinand the Bull every single day. It was the first hard back book I remember owning. It is the one book on my bookshelf that looks like it has been loved to the point of dying. I was slightly in love with Ferdinand and the flowers he smelled under the cork tree. Reading is a way for a mind to wander but feel safe, learn yet forget, become whole but still want more. Books teach us about the world, people, situations. Ferdinand the Bull didn't destroy my mind but instead proved to me that being different is good. In fact, it's a great thing. Within every popular entertainment form there will be inappropriate, stupid story plots. Does that mean we should disregard the whole practice, such as watching TV. No! Because for every bad there is a good. For every idiotic, poorly written fantasy novel there will always be a brilliant J.R.R. Tolkien masterpiece. For every book that claims to be suspense and falls short, there will always be a John Grisham nail biter. Pop entertainment is a way for people to know what is going on in the world and understand the view points of valuable thinkers. Reading is one way to get that information and also escape into a world where one can become someone else! It's an amazing thing!
Reading is just one form of the popular entertainment we are so familiar with. It's true, too much TV or too much computer time can be detrimental to children growing up but no one can ever read too much. It is the only popular entertainment that being obsessed with is good thing. Popular entertainment isn't hurting culture, it is giving life to it in the form of books. I hope that popularity never dies or is taken away!
