I trust those who read for a long time
reading the clouds, stars, trees, grass… people who notices where birds burrow, who see where they attempted to make a home in one place but decided to move to another. those who don’t understand a sentence and read it over and over again until they understand what in means to them in that moment.. and then reads it again a year later to finally understand what it actually means.. then reads it again 5 years later and it means something completely different… it is amazing how static things/things without a living biology like writing change… written text is a strange one to comprehend. tress are not difficult to understand, we know they start out as a seed and then turn into giants… we understand humans start from cells then turn, gigantic… and words… words do not necessarily have a biology like that but the symbols do live in our brains, they take up neurons, they feed neurons, they help keep us safe.. reading stop signs for instance is vital to our survival, reading symbols is vital for our survival… neurologically words and books do hold significant power… understanding your rights as a citizen wherever you are can save you from systematic abuse when needing to defend yourself..
I re-read a lot of books… because it is soothing to my brain, its like soaking myself in a warm bath when I pick up a book I love… and most of the time I find out more, I have deeper understanding of the book, my brain connects more things, my brain connects more of what the author meant because I have also lived a little more and experienced the world more and I understand more of where they were coming from… I will re-read children’s book and understand my childhood better… I will read new children’s books and be amazed by how open they are now about real life situations and I will cry thinking how some kid who is going through a similar situation will be so grateful to know they are not alone and find comfort for their brain, find space in the pages to rest their thoughts and not spiral into a dark ocean of their mind…
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin / Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen
these two books come to mind two fictional / fantastical / sci-fi-ish stories
SPOILERS….
Boy in the Tower was particularly impactful… a young kid who lives with his mother in an estate in London… an unknown alien plant is causing buildings to collapse.. sometime during the progression of this subtle invasion his mother was beaten up and mugged in the streets and became intensely afraid to leave the house, clean, cook, or do anything due to the trauma (completely frozen unable to barely move, sleeping for most days), the little boy has to take care of himself and his mom and cope with the growing invasion around him. at some point people begin to collapse on the streets they believe it is airborne and he is not longer aloud outside of the estate.. his only close friend is in the building next to his and he cannot tell if she is still there and is scared he will never see her again/scared the building will collapse with them inside… he sees on the news the updates of the invasion they are learning more but they do not know how to stop it yet.. the death tolls are high and the boy is faced with coping with all of this sudden pressure… the boy searches for community/safety/resources in his estate tower and finds familiar faces who offer help. in the most hopeless and statistically unfortunate situations he continues to fight. he befriends people in the flat and they work together to survive as long as they can…
the story continues and it is one I would recommend everyone to read… I know this is a story so many kids in london can relate to and in ways kids who are experiencing the wars.. seeing on the news the continued destruction of their home, not knowing if theirs will be next… living with parents who do not know how to cope or living with parents/ single parents who are experiencing PTSD / CPTSD…
the boy is aware of his surroundings he sees everything, he actually notices patterns of the alien behaviour earlier than the journalists. .. it is such a wonderful book.
It brings tears to my eyes then and now
i trust people who look at things for a long time
