By Steve Fernlund
I am an early adopter of the written word. Although I’m too old to testify to the veracity of particular memories, I recall the prideful delight I took as a child when I could look at a jumble of letters and realize they represented an actual word. I’d repeat that word many times and work it into my ramblings until I discovered the next word, or my tormented parents shouted, “Enough already!”
Not only did I see Dick and Jane in schoolbooks, I saw the words surrounding them. Fascinated, I decided that all I’d ever really need to learn in this life was already written down. All I had to do was find it.
When I was kept out of school in third or fourth grade for an extended period because I’d contracted the “kissing disease,” aka Infectious Mononucleosis, the school assigned me a tutor who came to the house periodically to keep me up to speed on what the teacher was forcing on the other kids. This woman was a passionate advocate for kids’ reading. She told my mother that I should read all the time. When asked what I should read specifically, this fantastic tutor said, “Anything he wants to read.” Bless her heart.
I became a voracious reader of almost everything except the bible, much to my mother’s chagrin. Comics from Superman to Mighty Mouse and Archie were reliable purveyors of wisdom and entertainment. MAD Magazine taught me how to sing the lyrics “You’re a Grand Old Hag, You’re an unsightly Bag, But you’re still my true love Emmy Lou” to the tune of George M. Cohan’s “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” I still remember that goofy song, even though I’ll forget your name within minutes of shaking your hand today.
I devoured biographies of athletes like Jim Thorpe, the famous Native American athlete in the early 1900s. As a young child, he sustained severe burns on his foot and leg when a cabin caught fire. He had to relearn how to walk again, inspiringly demonstrating his early determination to me. Thorpe achieved athletic fame at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, where he won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon. King Gustav V of Sweden famously told him, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” I’ve always felt Swedes were excellent judges of such things.
Thorpe was still a prominent figure in the 1930s. He played professional football, even after the formation of the National Football League, and continued to do so well into the Great Depression. He played his final NFL games in 1928 and later coached and played for various minor league teams into the early 1930s.
I gorged on books about baseball players, my favorite sport. Biographies (written for young people) of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and even Mickey Mantle were high on my list. The Hardy Boys mysteries sparked my imagination and were always a sure bet if someone were buying me a gift. And may explain my longtime love of detective stories and mysteries. Magazines like Reader’s Digest, Life, and Saturday Evening Post were always available. Later, such classics as Sports Illustrated, Motor Trend, and Esquire were regular reading.
In high school, I occasionally borrowed Reader’s Digest articles to craft speech class projects where presenting information in an orderly fashion was a priority. I hardly changed a word sometimes.
Mom fell early on for a pitch to buy encyclopedias, which were routinely accessed by my young, if not too bright, mind.
Regular reading across a wide range of topics and perspectives over the past 60 years or so has helped shape my worldview. Between 50 and 100 books a year, fiction and non. Reading has tempered my judgment at times and keeps a definition of civility and morality foremost in my life.
A civilized community isn’t merely defined by infrastructure or laws; its true measure lies in the unspoken social contract of common courtesy and decency. The act of showing respect and consideration fosters trust, reduces stress and friction, and is the visible expression of the Golden Rule. This understanding, gained through reading, has led me to recognize the societal issue of wealth disparity, influenced my personal values and worldview, and inspired me to strive for a more just and equitable society.
I just finished reading “The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich” by Evan Osnos. I highly recommend it. It reinforced my view that the political system only works for insiders with money and power. Wealth disparity and its cousin, income disparity, present a threat to our way of life that is equal to the changing climate.
