Aphorisms and Idioms: The More That You Read… The More Places You’ll Go
T
he more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. This aphorism comes from Dr. Seuss, in a book called I Can Read with My Eyes Shut.[1] The book’s title is intended ironically, of course. Because as the Cat in the Hat tells us, “you’ll miss the best stuff if you keep your eyes shut.”[2]
Reading with our eyes shut is a perfect metaphor for the book banning we’re seeing so much of these days. As The Cat in the Hat also tells us:
If you read with your eyes shut
you’re likely to find
that the place where you’re going
is far, far behind.[3]
Which is precisely where book banners’ targeting of works that reflect diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) is attempting to take us… to a time behind us. One with a homogenous view of the world, and a sterilized version of our nation’s history.
It’s a tactic that’s been used before. As abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher noted, during the years leading up to the Civil War, schoolbooks containing material about the evils of slavery “were expunged” from southern schools’ curriculums.[4]
Sound familiar? It should. Because that’s exactly what’s happening in a number of states today.
And even more frightening, is the fact that there are bills on the docket in both houses of Congress that would mandate which books (and only those books) are to be used in school curriculums across the country. So much for the parent’s rights argument banners have been using to promote their cause.
So, Keep Your Eyes Open
As this aphorism points out, “the more that you read, the more things you will know.” Like the Cat in the Hat observes, you just might “learn how to earn a few dollars.”[5] But if you read books that reflect diversity, you’ll also discover that you have more than you may think in common with people whose lives are different than your own. Which for a lot of folks, makes the world a much less scary place.
And, “the more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Travel to the great white north with Jack London’s Call of the Wild. Sail the seas with banned author Edgar Allan Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
Or read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. About a boy in Malawi who invented a windmill that brought electricity and water to his drought-ravaged village.
Expand your horizons. Learn about cultures that exist outside this country’s borders. Doing so makes life more interesting. And the world beyond our own backyards a whole lot less intimidating. Reading broadens our perspectives. It deepens our knowledge. And don’t forget Schoolhouse Rock’s pearl of wisdom, that Knowledge is Power. To speak our own minds, and make our own choices.
So, as the Cat in the Hat says:
That’s why I tell you
To keep your eyes wide.
Keep them wide open…
At least on one side.[6]
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Endnotes:
[1] Dr. Seuss. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut. New York: Random House, 1978.
[2] Dr. Seuss. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut. New York: Random House, 1978. Pg 33.
[3] Dr. Seuss. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut. New York: Random House, 1978. Pg 40.
[4] Beecher, Henry Ward. “Anti-Slavery Lectures.” The New York Times. January 19, 1854.
[5] Dr. Seuss. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut. New York: Random House, 1978. Pg 36.
[6] Dr. Seuss. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut. New York: Random House, 1978. Pg 42.
Images:
The More That You Read: Photo by George Kourounis on Unsplash
So, Keep Your Eyes Open: Photo by Akram Huseyn on Unsplash
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