While
standing on the train platform in Larchmont, New York , waiting for my often-late 8:20 a.m. train coming from New Haven, Connecticut, two middle-aged men
struck up a conversation based on a book one of the men held in his hand. It was a meeting, between two strangers who
may otherwise never have uttered a word to one another if not for this
book. Books can bring us together like
nothing else.
They
fondly exchanged love for the book’s author whose series of books they found to
be amazing. While they had not yet
entered each other's world in the 50+ years of their lives, a random, chance meeting and conversation and perhaps even a friendship was spared. Will such exchanges continue to happen in the
digital content era?
Let’s
face it. I can’t see what someone is
reading on their iPhone or Kindle. I
can’t even tell if it’s a book, blog, newspaper, magazine, website, email or
something else. Their tastes and
intellectual pursuits remain tucked away on a screen. Whereas when one reads a paper book anyone
can see what’s being consumed and if they choose, comment on it and introduce
themselves to the reader, as one guy did today with another.
That’s
how it’s been for a long time – and that’s how I hope it continues to be, I
like the physical world where humans connect on a personal level, where things
are out in the open, where, there’s a currency of energy that fills a
space. The flickering hum of a device
doesn’t excite me. It may give me access
to worlds of information at an instant moment but it can’t provide the contact
one gets from human interaction. I want
my senses engaged – all of them – and not just the private, quiet one that
involves scrolling through a digital mountain.
Word-of-mouth,
spreads differently today than it used to.
Sure, some friends and family gather and what one is reading may come up,
but so much discussion of books now takes place online. Some of it is less a discussion, and more of
a series of one-way shouts through social media posts. When you’re not looking for something, and then discover it, it is a great feeling. But it’s becoming a lost art.
In
the simple exchange on the train platform, I witnessed not only shared joy in
an author and an exchange of recommending books, but the moment in life when
people come together for a common experience and purpose. Those two men love to read books and that
was enough of a common denominator to embrace one another. Wouldn’t the world be such a better place
when strangers come together, when people read books and discuss them, and when
we look away from our portable conduits to the virtual world and actually
experience the tactile one?
Reading
books is actually a private experience.
You do it alone, not talking to anyone, fully enmeshed in the words that
appear in your hands. But books leads us
to live with each other and to experience the physical life that we crave. They teach us, inspire us, and enlighten us
so we may finish a book and feel closer to the world around us.
We
should have an honoring day called Hold a Book in Your Hand Day, where everyone
walks around parading a book. It will
encourage strangers to strike up conversations about the books we read and the
lives we lead. It will not only spread a word-of-mouth love for many books, it will bring about a more harmonious
world.
What
book are you reading? Show it off – and
let the conversation begin.
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