“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.”
— Socrates
I began my journey in education traditionally, by learning the ABC at age five. Reading the ABAKADA from small book called Caton (“libro,” first reading book) through the guidance of an old woman wizard, Nang Mamay, with a stick on her hand used as her partner to discipline us pupils. With long white hair, she possesses an authoritative voice that all of us listened to and eagle eyes employed to find mistakes from readers to make them attentive to what they are reading. The stick in her hand was seldom used to hurt or frighten anybody but only to point to letters and words bypassed by a reader. Readers with no mistakes in reading the assigned pages made her happy.
I finished my course in Caton with nang Mamay, receiving only few strokes of her golden stick on my hands.
I would say today that during Nang Mamay’s time we had no library in barangay Buyo and even up to now. Who knows this coming October, when our eldest sister Salome will be holding her birthday here in our barangay, they may come up with an idea to put up a library with help from their children and Segurado Ka Sa Catsu Retirees Inc. can extend their assistance. Dreams die hard for someone like me and you who are lovers of books. Children must be made to love books before other things in life. Books can help them find the gateway to a better future.
Boys and girls ages 4 to 6 who entered Nang Mamay’s door learned to read using that small book called Caton. What will happen if we have a library with thousands of interesting books, not only Caton, manned by caring volunteer librarians? Two things may happen. First, toddlers exposed to children’s books early on their life will make books their first love instead of a cellphone. Second, parents must play an active role. Encourage and teach your children to read.
“If you want your children to be intelligent,” Albert Einstein said, “read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
Let me write what reading did to me. Which until now is very much a part of me like my dearest wife of my life. I diligently practice it. I could be biased if I proclaimed that reading make a man of me. Truth be told, it helps me a lot. It gives me confidence to face anyone. Reading started me on the road of literacy and helped me later in life to navigate the world of grown men without qualms and always ready to offer solutions to problems, if offered an opportunity to do so.
Reading made me connected to the wisdom of the past, the wisdom of the dead, the likes of Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. The philosophy and ideas of the more than one hundred philosophers I read many years ago in the book, “The One hundred Philosophers”, which included Lord Jesus Christ as one of them.
Did I learn from them? Did my effort in reading their philosophies increase my mental acumen, my understanding of people and our world in general?
“Cogito, ergo sum (I think therefore I am)”, as philosopher Rene Descartes said.
We need intelligent Catandunganons. We need books. To be honest, I don’t much care whether you’re reading in Kindle like one gifted to me by my very good friend Bo Rodolfo, paper, the scroll/papyrus, where the old Bible was written, and the screen of your cellphone. What is important to me is the content of the book you are reading. There are books that will make you travel to many places without transportation and communicate with the dead while you are still alive, by reading their books.
As author NEIL GAIMAN said, “Reading is important. Books are important.”.
Afterthought:
Booklatan is at Ardci Mart Weekend Market, Moonwalk Road, Calatagan, Virac, Catanduanes. Visit us from 4:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Friday to Sunday.