I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!  It is such a fun holiday- the parades, the fireworks, the family picnics.  Such a contrast to that quiet day in 1776, when a bunch of guys sweating under their wigs in the heat voted to approve a single large page of words that would lead to a long bloody war for independence and the birth of a nation.  150-200 copies of the document were printed that night, and it was read in public in various places over the following days, as the news slowly spread across the new country.

Think of how the country – and the world – has changed since then.  Every day, we are buffeted by the news events of the day, the turmoil around the world rushing at us from satellites, internet, cell phones, all live and close-up and at unprecedented speeds.    It’s a fast-paced world, and it seems that we all have to keep moving, keep switching our attention from TV to blogs to Youtube to cell phones to Facebook in order to keep up.

I love technology and all that it has brought us, but I also believe that there is one way in which we don’t have to change – something that does not need to evolve, something that will keep us all sane in the typhoon of daily events.   The simple pleasure of reading a book will never be outmoded. There is something so wonderful, so calming, about holding the book and turning the pages, seeing the words and letting the images they describe fill your mind.

So keep at it everyone!  Keep taking those breathers from the breakneck pace of the new millennium.  Enjoy the freedom that comes with living in the greatest nation ever founded.   Let’s take advantage of our liberty–to sit back, clear our minds of all that noise, and…open a book.

Happy reading everyone!

Richard
and the PaperBackSwap Team