Freedom to READ!

I've been reading a lot lately. New books, old rereads, Harry Potter fanfic, children's books...books every night and on my lunch hour. I've been going to bed a half hour early and reading in bed on my mini tablet. Maybe I'll get around to an update on Goodreads.

Today I was thinking about reading, and also about Fourth of July. I've also been reading craft books and did some research on the story structure of the Harry Potter Series  (which I think is  magnificent, and if you are an adult who has experienced loss is well worth the read for what it tells in story about moving forward with love in the face of death.) So reading, thinking, analyzing...my brain has been busy.

There was a small period of time where reading was discouraged in my life. My hubby and I were once part of the Jesus Freak movement, and in the earliest days our experience was nothing but positive. People in our little world really tried to live love... That changed as things became more organized and churchy, with demands to 'obey' men of god, yada yada. So for a period of time we were stuck in a group that discouraged reading as a waste of time, and perhaps spiritually dangerous. Sheesh.

I kept reading. Books from the library, books from yard sales and used book stores (I was a stay at home mom with little cash). I read while the girls were in the bath, sitting on the floor next to the tub. I had an easy chair in their bedroom which got a beam of light right from the hallway, and I would sit in there as they settled to sleep, first reading out loud and then picking up my latest book and
 reading in the crack of light.

What a weird, uncomfortable time, to have to read in secret. Yet thousands of people are still doing that. Some have to do fancy computer tricks to get to sites where they can read, and these are not children, but people caught up in belief systems or political systems that restrict their freedoms every day. Just the act of reading is an act of personal rebellion. As I sit in my living room with an ereader full of books, I think about that. How thankful I am for this freedom that is so easy to take for granted!