Renewed faith in the reading public

For several years, the book lovers among us worried that books were an endangered species -- losing out to digital devices and the short attention span of the new age.   It turns out that there was a bit of Chicken Little in that worry.

First, even though sales losses have driven multitudes of book stores out of business, including the giant Borders, this downturn may not be as bad as we first thought.   Partly it is that people are buying books online.   Or reading books on digital readers.

But the fact is that people are still reading.   Here's some anecdotal evidence from my own experience.  Some 15 years ago, I bought what became my favorite sweat shirt.   Here's what it says:

So many books

So little time

I loved wearing it, because it expressed what I have felt ever since I became an adult with other responsibilities and not enough time to read.    People would frequently stop me in public and ask where I had gotten the shirt -- or just to say they loved what it said.    

Clearly, large numbers of people felt the same.   I've almost never had strangers comment about a message on any other shirt I was wearing.   But this one -- I hardly ever wore it in public without either a spoken comment or a thumbs-up, knowing look.

Then, as the edges of the shirt began to fray a bit, I decided that I didn't want to ever wear out.   So I put it away and had not worn it for years.  Until last week, rummaging through my closet for clothes to give to Goodwill, I ran across it -- and knew I wasn't ready to part with it.

So I wore it again a few days ago when I met a friend for lunch.    As I was standing in line to pick up my order, a young woman passing by gave me a big smile and said "I love your shirt."

Then today, I was alone at lunch in a restaurant when a waitress, not the one assigned to my table, came from across the room.   She was 40-ish, Hispanic, and rather shyly commented that she liked the message on my shirt.    Seeing that I was not offended but friendly and receptive, she said that she used to read all the time.

"But not so much lately.   I was reading my book and cooking dinner (gesturing to show holding a book in one hand and stirring a pot with the other) -- and I burned the dinner.   So I had to stop reading while I cook."

We both chuckled at her story -- and then both agreed that maybe she should give up cooking instead of giving up reading.

The reading public is alive and . . . reading, or at least wanting to.   In two outings this week, wearing the shirt, I had two lovely comments about its message.

Ralph