As a queen of small talk, one of my favorite casual topics of conversation to bring up is this:

“What have you been reading lately?”

It’s a great way to get a glimpse into a person’s interests (and if we’re honest, their intelligence), and gives us at least a 30 second break to think of something else to bring up so that every awkward silence doesn’t catch us.

Imagine my surprise and horror (and disgust or horror again) when I get this response:

“I don’t read.”

Cue horror music (of the carnivorous fish kind).

“What? You don’t read?”

“Yeah, just don’t have the time anymore.”

Let me tell you folks, this is perhaps the most incredibly disappointing statement I’ve heard in a while. And not because I’m an English major (which I am), or because I live and die for the printed word (which I do), but because the statement is absolutely valid.

You probably genuinely don’t have time to read anymore. After all, even as an English major, I struggle to find time to read anything that isn’t required. My life goes a little something like this: wake up, go to school, try desperately to fit in a nap and a decent meal, homework, go to real work so I can make real money to afford that Arroz Mi Pueb, maybe fit in some time for social interaction, and then blissfully fall into bed only to wake up a few short hours later and do it all over again.

So I get it. Life is too hectic for books sometimes.

But that’s exactly the problem.

I’m currently student teaching at a local high school with tenth graders, a.k.a terrors with driver’s licenses, and we have just finished reading "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. It’s a dystopian novel written in the 1950s that imagines a grim future where firefighters set fires instead of put them out. Specifically, the firefighters burn books, which are illegal in the society. And the books aren’t banned because of a Big Brother deciding that he wants to control the world and what people think and read. They’re banned because the society deems books to be too troublesome and irrelevant. The people in this book are being constantly stimulated by some sort of entertainment, whether it’s talk shows, radio stations, or driving at dangerous speeds. Books are too complicated, have too many emotions and over complicate things. So we got rid of them.

Sound familiar?

I can hardly get my students to open a book without them asking me, “Why can’t you just tell me what happens?” or “Why do I need to read the whole book if you can just tell me what I’m supposed to learn from it?” Or I have students tell me everything they’d like to be doing besides reading a book, which makes quite a formidable list. They don’t see the point.

Well, I could give you a large list of why books are extremely valuable and necessary, even today in a world of fever pitched motion. I could tell you about the book that saved a girl from her ending her own life by showing her a world she wanted to live in. I could tell you about the books that opened eyes, that changed perspectives, that taught lessons beyond the practical kind. I could tell you about the poem that touched my soul, that spoke to me in a language transcendent of this world. I could even tell you about the one Book that saved my soul, that gave my life purpose.

Ultimately though, all I can say is that this cannot happen to us. We cannot become an ignorant majority that just looks for generalizations and easy applications. We have to be a society that constantly seeks truths, mysteries, the unknown. We also have to be a society that strives to understand one another and each other’s perspectives. It may push us out of our comfort zones and wreck our schedules, but by doing this, we not only better ourselves, but our world.

“Most of us can't rush around talking to everyone, know all the cities of the world; we haven't time, money or that many friends. The things you're looking for are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see 99 percent of them is in a book. Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore."

—Ray Bradbury