The Value Of Literacy

from Issue #1, April 2016, page # 25

by Kendall Myers

For judgment I have come into the world, that those who do not see may see. — John 9:39.

A picture that I’ve posted on the wall behind my desk at school reminds me of the profound value of literacy. The black and white sketch depicts a woman that I would guess to be in her sixties bent over a booklet, tracing its lines carefully with her finger. Every line on her face speaks to the intensity of her desire to make out the meaning of the text on the page before her. In my mind, she is someone who has just been taught the rudimentary elements of reading, probably for the purpose of reading the Scriptures. For her entire life, a transparent yet impenetrable space has existed between her eyes and words on a page and now, though it is hard work, her face shows the joy of being able to see the pictures that emerge as she pieces together the textual puzzle.
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