Non-Reader

"The man hasn't read a book in years."
I keep hearing that about the current occupant of the White House.  Maybe that's as it should be because recent studies say that claim goes for over half the population of this country.  Scary but true.  It's obvious that the President doesn't know the history of this country.  Examples abound. Even for those who can forgive him for inventing the African country of Nambia (he referred to that the other day) the fact that he knows very little about American History doesn't seem sway his followers.  Either they know nothing too or they simply don't care.  Probably both.  Yet, the notion of ignoring history and repeating mistakes looms large all the while.
A former colleague of mine, who taught Language Arts for a lifetime used to have a large banner in her classroom. When kids came into this learning environment they saw a sign which read, "Unless We Read, We Live But One Tiny Life."
I'd love to hear a discussion among a group of non-readers relating to that quote.  How do we measure the size of a life?  The character Mr. Antolini in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye told Holden Caulfield, "Maybe one day you'll find out what size mind you have."  For the American people, that day has come.
I get that reading is problematic for some folks.  It's either about time or learning disabilities, or missed opportunities. But is that an excuse for not knowing our country's history or keeping apprised of current affairs?

What President hasn't read biographies of former Presidents?   This one, no doubt. I wonder if he eve writes anything more than his infamous Tweets.  I love the quote, "How will I know what I think until I see what I write."  No wonder he doesn't always know what he thinks.
I have a suggestion for the next Voter Information Guide.  How about we ask prospective candidates to make us a list of their reading in the last year.  I'd love to  see that.  Maybe even some politicians would extend their lists to local libraries and we could have town hall like reading groups.
I'm confident that instead of arguing political theory or the polarization of our current population, we might actually refer to historical examples grounded in documentation.
So what do I think would come as the most profound revelations.  That's tempting.  If non-readers read, they might know more about the reality of the slave trade, or the wording of treaties like Guadalupe Hidalgo.  Maybe they'd learn about immigration or the fact that "race" is a human construct and that archaic words like Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid, were inventions that mean nothing.  Most non-readers don't know that Caucasian refers to the Caucasus Mountains not skin color.  Would they be surprised to know that all humans have the same 6 genes for skin tone?  That the greatest genetic differences between human beings has to do with how tall they are.
There is a lot to be said for informing yourself through films, provided that they are on the level of the current Ken Burns Lynn Novik "The Vietnam War" production now showing.  But something special happens in the mind when we read.  We make pictures, we think in quite a different way.  We encounter ideas in a much more active way.  To sit and let the images tumble at us, we have no choice to accept what we are given.  Unless we read, we don't think too well.