Charles M. Schulz
Dear Reader,
I want to tell you that everything will be okay.
I want to tell you that it will get better.
I want to tell you that it all works out in the end.
But sometimes it doesn’t.
Most times it is hard and we usually end up getting used to it.
But there is something you can do in response: read.
Read until your heart breaks and you can’t stand it anymore.
Read until you have paper cuts from turning pages or blisters from swiping a screen.
You see, here’s the thing: even at their worst, books won’t abandon you.
If they make you cry it’s only because they are that good.
You can depend on books.
They will always be there for you.
Their patience is infinite and they have been known to save lives.
They can help you become a smarter, more interesting person.
Embroidery by Sarah K. Benning
Books can probably help you get dates,
though I don’t recommend you ask that much of them too often
(you don’t want to limit their power).
Books — like dogs — are among a handful of things on this planet that just want to be loved.
And
they will love you back, generously and selflessly, requiring very
little in return — until they are complete, their light and their wisdom
and their hearts sputtering to an inevitable, lonely end.
