Volume 03, Issue 08: ‘I Give Ye Power to Read’

To think great thoughts we must have them within us. To have them we must read about them. We want to be all that we can be; maximize our best potential. The key lies in reading and educating ourselves.

The sad part is that after graduating from college or university, few of us want to read. While studying to obtain a certificate, we spend tons of hours reading to pass exams. But we hardly read for leisure or to increase our knowledge beyond academics.

Thomas Carolyn put it across well that what we become depends on what we read after the professors have finished with us.

Books are a store of wealth. At our graduation ceremonies the University Chancellor would tell us ‘I give ye power to read.’ But very few of us make a commitment to read after graduation.

Reading is one of the best habits you can ever have. The book of Proverbs advises that we should get all the knowledge we can, then we will be wise the rest of our lives. Expand your knowledge base. Read about everything important in your area of interest.

Succeeding in life takes more than just passing exams and obtaining academic certificates. Happiness does not come from career advancement only, but knowing how to effectively manage and balance all areas in the wheel of life. We do not learn how to do life at the University, but from the books we read. Your University certificate may get you a job, but it is self-education that will open a world of opportunities for you.

We grow through reading. But for sustainable growth to be realized, we must learn to master the books we read. Commit to a program of personal study and development. As we make a commitment to read, we must not read passively, but take our reading seriously and commit to apply our learning so that tangible changes can begin to show in our lives.

The fact that we are living in challenging times should impress upon us the urgency to read. Almost everything within, about, and around us is changing. We are faced with so many challenges, dilemmas and problems in diverse areas of our lives that we do not know how to solve – burnout, career choices, unfulfilled living, discovering purpose, marriages on the rocks, difficult parenting, dwindling health, financial difficulties, and so on. Reading widely opens a window of opportunity in these areas of life.

Irrespective of your age and stage in life read widely and extensively to get new possibilities and renew your way of thinking. When we read great books, they take us to places we have never been before. We meet great minds who broaden our world, renew our thinking, and expand our wisdom to manage life effectively. Utilize your power to read to the full and reap the benefits thereof.

Lillian Chebosi