"Books console us, calm us, prepare us, enrich us, and redeem us." - Jose Marti

Hello all, now if you were like me growing up in school, you hated reading. I think we hated reading because we were forced to read horrible (in my opinion) books in school and then we had to take a test on it. I must admit not all the books we were forced to read were bad, and there were some years where we got lucky they picked a book we were actually into, but most years I always questioned "what's the point?" I never really got into books until I got to pick what I was into. Now I see that reading is important, and it gets our mind out of what is going on around us.

I am the first to say I get extremely busy, and everyone else gets busy too. I get it, luckily, I am in college and still have a few summers left to enjoy some free time. For some people, students, adults, that work full time, take summer classes, or even do both it is hard to find time to sit and read a book. The thing is people can make time to, if they really want to.

Listen though.. you can turn the TV off and read a book instead. I said it, turn off the TV. You can ask my friends, I am the last person to turn off the TV. I am a Netflix addict but when I find a good book, I get lost in it for hours. Books make your mind escape reality; people may say "TV does that too." But I may disagree, yes TV can make you escape reality, but reading does something different. It gives you knowledge, and people, knowledge is power.

Books are important, they provide us with learning more vocabulary, and the skills to comprehend things. Even reading for pleasure can help you. We are always reading tweets or Facebook statuses but not picking up a book. I am here to tell you, reading a book will help you become more relaxed. The fact that a person is taking the time to sit down, and escape reality for a few minutes or hours is something no one can take away from you. It is "your time." Finally taking your eyes off a screen will help you.

A lot of the problems going on around us has to do with what our generation is turning into. Less and less things are getting put on paper, even in school they are putting students on laptops. I once asked a question in class and a teacher told me to "google it." Once a day taking the time to read, or get your eyes away from your cell phone can actually make your mind more at ease. Even if your stressed, a book can help you keep your mind off of what you are stressing about. Taking a break from everything that is going on and opening a book.

In conclusion, (as they say), I am here to say books are important to us. Each and everyday people are gaining knowledge from them, reading them for an escape, or even reading them for fun. Reading can be fun for everyone if they find the right book for them. Just give it a chance, Read more and worry less.