I was with Apis Cuer and Brian tonight sharing something about reading. The sharing was with UMS Art Students at “Bicara Orang Seni: The Power of Reading” conducted by KARMA UMS at the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Heritage, UMS, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. (Thank you so much, KARMA, for inviting us and allowing us to share with you all.)
Let me share some thoughts on my personal experience with reading and writing.
I don't think I can ever divorce myself from these two “boring” words, "reading" and "writing". Reading has already become part of my habit to balance my thoughts between truths and lies before I write. Reading helps a lot in opening my mind and heart to write anything under the shining sun and glittering moon. It even strengthens my love to my left, my right, my front and my back - my environment surrounding me. In Malaysia, the citizens are very fortunate that they are supported and urged to read and buy books. The government even exempts them from paying taxes if they buy books.
When I was a child and only beginning to get familiar with alphabets and letters, I’d read for hours, unaware that what I was doing was really reading. I started when I was three to four years old. I just read letters like they’re abstract objects. I didn’t bother to understand what they were. Later I began to take interest in the things I read. I read books, magazines, newspapers, anything I could get my hands on.
It felt gratifying, discovering things in the process. I found out how powerful reading is and eventually it became part of my personal culture. I became aware that reading is good. I became addicted to it. I was very careful though. I was afraid that I would fall into a trap of false knowledge and lies because I used to hear people say, “If you read, read the books on morality or those that connect you to your God”.
Let me share some thoughts on my personal experience with reading and writing.
I don't think I can ever divorce myself from these two “boring” words, "reading" and "writing". Reading has already become part of my habit to balance my thoughts between truths and lies before I write. Reading helps a lot in opening my mind and heart to write anything under the shining sun and glittering moon. It even strengthens my love to my left, my right, my front and my back - my environment surrounding me. In Malaysia, the citizens are very fortunate that they are supported and urged to read and buy books. The government even exempts them from paying taxes if they buy books.
When I was a child and only beginning to get familiar with alphabets and letters, I’d read for hours, unaware that what I was doing was really reading. I started when I was three to four years old. I just read letters like they’re abstract objects. I didn’t bother to understand what they were. Later I began to take interest in the things I read. I read books, magazines, newspapers, anything I could get my hands on.
It felt gratifying, discovering things in the process. I found out how powerful reading is and eventually it became part of my personal culture. I became aware that reading is good. I became addicted to it. I was very careful though. I was afraid that I would fall into a trap of false knowledge and lies because I used to hear people say, “If you read, read the books on morality or those that connect you to your God”.
With KARMA, the student group that organized the sharing. Photo: Apis Cuer.
Frankly, I am dependent both on my reading and on my observations of things when I do my writing. I read to confirm facts, truths, and lies. So, it might not be boring to me. Reading connects me to my past and guides me as I reconnect my present to my past. It gives me strength to be powerful in my own way by creating a peaceful environment so I could be powerless again. Power here doesn’t mean direct physical power but power to recreate an oasis of knowledge and thoughts.
My way to counter boredom, I kept on reading and reading. Reading helped me weigh which one is heavy, which one is light. It also taught me to understand truths from lies, facts that are not true from truth that are not facts. Little did I know reading is not only a skill or an act of going through pages of newspapers and books, silently or aloud, but also something that needs interpretation, understanding, explanation, and analysis.
Reading is boring. I know it. And books are boring if I don’t read, even just a word. It’s the same thing as writing. Writing is difficult if I don’t start writing even a single incomplete sentence or scribbling or creating asemic writing in my notebook. But it’s just how it is. What I do, I connect my reading with my writing. If I don’t read, I will just be going round and round, unable to come up with anything sensible when I write.
I agree that reading is something that fights boredom, although, I too do believe that it could be boring depending on how I deal with it. “Reading is boring” is a phrase that agitates my mind and disturbs my brain cells. Reading was not part of my culture back then. I read only because I needed to read to prepare for exams at school. In our family, I was taught “to study”, never “to read”. I didn’t realize studying involves a lot of reading.
My way to counter boredom, I kept on reading and reading. Reading helped me weigh which one is heavy, which one is light. It also taught me to understand truths from lies, facts that are not true from truth that are not facts. Little did I know reading is not only a skill or an act of going through pages of newspapers and books, silently or aloud, but also something that needs interpretation, understanding, explanation, and analysis.
Reading is boring. I know it. And books are boring if I don’t read, even just a word. It’s the same thing as writing. Writing is difficult if I don’t start writing even a single incomplete sentence or scribbling or creating asemic writing in my notebook. But it’s just how it is. What I do, I connect my reading with my writing. If I don’t read, I will just be going round and round, unable to come up with anything sensible when I write.
I agree that reading is something that fights boredom, although, I too do believe that it could be boring depending on how I deal with it. “Reading is boring” is a phrase that agitates my mind and disturbs my brain cells. Reading was not part of my culture back then. I read only because I needed to read to prepare for exams at school. In our family, I was taught “to study”, never “to read”. I didn’t realize studying involves a lot of reading.
With some students.
We can acquire passion with reading out of its being boring. For instance, we can turn boredom into something fascinating by reading to learn the way other people live, their history and story and thoughts and ideals. I remind myself that when I am unsure about what to read, I should read something that keeps me connected to God, to myself, to the people around me and to those friends I never met in my entire life.
I treat reading and books as well as writing as my friends because it is through them that I can meet friends who may never be known to me. Those friends may not always be persons but also things and concepts I can talk to. When I am reading a book, it’s not me who is talking. It’s the book who is talking to me and it becomes the channel by which the author communicates with me, sharing knowledge through the pages I read.
Because I read today, I learned about my life, my language, my friends, my loved ones, my peace, even about my boredom. I have no reason not to read. The word “boring” is a very boring word. It’s the enemy of our souls and it kills the desire to learn and explore. I can even visit places without physically being there through reading.
I treat reading and books as well as writing as my friends because it is through them that I can meet friends who may never be known to me. Those friends may not always be persons but also things and concepts I can talk to. When I am reading a book, it’s not me who is talking. It’s the book who is talking to me and it becomes the channel by which the author communicates with me, sharing knowledge through the pages I read.
Because I read today, I learned about my life, my language, my friends, my loved ones, my peace, even about my boredom. I have no reason not to read. The word “boring” is a very boring word. It’s the enemy of our souls and it kills the desire to learn and explore. I can even visit places without physically being there through reading.
With students and Cikgu D.
Lastly, reading is my eyes, listening is my ears, but the psyche is still reading. So there is no escape in reading if we engage, take inspiration, and be truthful. I just don’t suggest reading if it makes us arrogant and turns us into followers of wasteful idealism through reading theories based on their own cultures. By reading, we can take what is good and evil but we should use our knowledge of evil to identify what is good. Let’s us all remember, by reading, learning and observing, we can identify that Sabah as our “tanah-air”, got it’s own land and sea, that is why it is composed of “tanah” and “air”, as we are its citizens are composed of sea-based people and land-based people. If we have sailors, we also have hunters. And they are our warriors.
Thank you so much for listening to this “boring” sharing. God bless us all!
Thank you so much for listening to this “boring” sharing. God bless us all!
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