Let's Learn From Others' Culture

Some days are just better than others. Sometimes they bring little change in our lives. I was wandering around Thamel few days back. I always make it a point to visit every bookshop in Thamel and visit Northfield Café at least once in a week. I just love to be there. An American girl with a black complexion came and sat next to my table as I was turning the pages of the book by Hillary Clinton. She repeatedly noticed the book I was reading. I thought for a while and decided to flirt with her for sometime. She was a university student from Baltimore state. She told me that she had already read that book. She spoke her opinion about the book for a while and then congratulated me for choosing right book for reading. She sounds avid reader from her talks. Then I tried to understand about the reading culture in the western world. A short meaningful chitchat with this lady inspired me to write this article.

They have got a long history of reading culture. It wouldn’t be exaggerated to say that reading has become inseparable part of their daily life. I can just guess that this culture must have some connection with the discoveries they have made in many areas of contemporary world. They are relatively scientific in thought and generous in behaviors. They respect others point of view even if they do not agree with them. They do not expect something miracle happens in their life rather they try to make it happen. They believe in action, not in words. Labor and time hold utmost importance in their society. They do not categorize work as a big or small. Their forefathers taught them to do work and love it. They understand economic freedom is most vital. Their society is not ritualistic like ours. They are open to sex and doubtful to religion. They question existing values and replace it with new values. They are always ready to accept new thought. They never hesitate to give up out-dated values. They attach utmost importance to the time that is available between birth and death. They find the life worth living when that time is utilized for the bigger purpose. They don’t believe in previous life. Neither have they believed in hell or heaven phenomenon after death. My claim here is that there must be some silent effect of reading culture behind above-mentioned accomplishment.

Now I think we need to look at why we have to adopt this culture rather than why it didn’t happen before in our society. There are lots of books in the market. Probably our whole life is not sufficient enough to read them all. So there is no alternative than to be selective. Generally we have to pick up the books that support our goal and interest. The reason why we need to read is to understand life and the world around us. It is not possible to experience everything by us alone. We have to read in order to learn from others experiences. Book is a life-long friend for those who can read. It is reliable friend and source of inspiration. There are some rare books in world of literature, which have altered the thoughts of millions and changed the course of entire history. Books make life interesting and meaningful. It broadens and widens our understanding. It teaches the art of living happy and meaningful life.

At last but not the least, I urge everyone to start reading book of our interests and goal. It would be one of the best cultures that we can adopt from western people. It’s definitely going to have a bigger impact in the next century.