“Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company, and reflection finish him.” – John Locke
What if I was to tell you that there exist a vast number of universes and each one of them has something to teach you? Pretty amazing, right? Now, what if I was to tell you that you have access to these universes? As a matter of fact, I’d be willing to guess you walk past a new one every day, without even realizing it. So, where can you find these universes?
Tucked between the covers of the books you haven’t been reading. Within every book is a story, a lesson, and a wealth of information just waiting to be tapped into. All you have to do is read it.
Now, I understand there are some of you out there that despise reading and can’t understand why anyone in their right minds would enjoy it. Well, I’m here to tell you there is a difference between being literate and being able to read. To be literate is to simply understand the meaning of a word. To read is to be able to decipher hidden messages the author leaves for us, to see a character’s internal struggles between the lines of a story, to recognize themes and metaphors, and, most importantly, to find ourselves inside of a story’s pages. Nobody enjoys simply reading words; we enjoy living them.
Luckily, I enjoyed reading as a child and my love for it has only grown with time. The fantasy genre is where I spent much of my childhood – fighting dragons, waging wars with mythical foes, finding magical loot in unexpected places, and acting as a magnificent knight who protects those in need. I still have a special love for that type of writing, but my tastes have since widened to include all types of literature. For example, two of my favorite books are Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. (If you haven’t read them, please do so.)
Literature has played a fundamental role in developing me into who I am today. I no longer think solely with my mind but with the minds of every character I’ve read through. When I speak, I speak with the voices of a hundred men and women, all different and unique but somehow brought together in my head like a puzzle where none of the pieces come belong together but somehow form a complete image. Like a symphony of different music genres being played at the same time to make what should be chaos but is instead a glorious harmony.
So, I urge you to read. Take as many books as you can handle and better yourself in their pages. Understand their struggles and learn from them; develop new ways of thinking and utilize them. Being a well-read man brings with it too many advantages for me to list here. I guess, you are just going to have to discover them on your own.
For now, let me just end by saying that to be a Gentleman is to be well-read, for many aspects of a Gentleman can only be forged between the pages of a book. So discover new horizons, and carry them with you. Read on, Gentlemen.
“Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities.” – Ben Okri
The Modern Gentleman 