Beyond Brushstrokes
By Maria Victoria Rufino
The iconic historian, writer, author, diplomat Carmen Guerrero Nakpil wrote in her autobiographical trilogy Myself, Elsewhere about how she learned to read.
“I must have been all of three or four when I was taken to Tia Liling to learn how to read and write… We sat every morning around Tia Liling’s dining table and were introduced to the alphabet, the numerals and a Spanish primer… One day, the page I was trying to decipher in the reader suddenly became flooded with light and I found I could make out all the letters and words and they all made sense, I could read!”
Reading is both a discipline and a pleasure. It is an exercise that needs quiet time — to concentrate, digest, comprehend and savor a book. The enjoyment derived is more than mental.
The sensual pleasures of reading are found in the total package of a volume — a visually appealing and artistic cover, illustrations or photographs, the quality, weight, texture and scent of the paper.
On the intellectual level, one is impressed by the author’s skill in interpreting ideas — history, fact, fantasy, or fiction; stories, essays, plays, and poems.
A well-written story can be just as exciting as a good film. A book is often better than the movie. An excellent writer can “paint” a scene or depict a wide range of emotions, convey profound thoughts and conflicts through precise words. Surfing and browsing cannot compete with old-fashioned reading. Shakespeare on a computer monitor would not have the same appeal as a well-worn book of romantic sonnets, or dramatic or comedic plays.
One has to tap the imagination and dive deep into the mind to make a book come alive. To imagine a scene and hear the characters speak the lines, or see the actions in the mind’s eye are infinitely more challenging and entertaining.
This may explain why a great book is always better than the film based on the same story. Something powerful is lost in the recreation or interpretation of the original. It is somehow distilled or characters are removed or added. The story is edited and changed by the scriptwriter and director for cinematic impact.
The mind is a wonderful, creative, and finely tuned, superb instrument that a high-tech machine can never approximate nor surpass. In this context, reading is an activity that resonates with the mind.
In the cyber age, speed and convenience are elements of technology. The computer, iPad, smartphone, and television overshadow books and journals. Techies surf and skim the Internet but they do not necessarily focus for a long time, read enough, and understand.
While the computer and broadcast media have many advantages, there is a downside to being high-tech dependent.
Literature — the classics, prose and poetry — cannot compete with the dazzling attractions of broadcast media, the hypnotic cyberspace. Mesmerizing media images eclipse the written word.
Now there are audio books.
In this sense, the individual may not always receive good quality stimuli. The mind becomes a passive receptacle for unfiltered, sensational news on war, scandals, showbiz trivia, and porn.
Reading traditional books is becoming obsolete among the younger generations. Little children are among the first casualties of the trickle down effect. When parents do not have time to cultivate a healthy reading habit in the family, TV and gadgets become the substitutes and are the dominant fixtures that influence the kids.
Knowledge cannot be instantly derived from television and the Internet. Education is a long process and it begins at home. One starts the early reading habits that lead to studying good literature.
In contrast, kids who are addicted to (unrestricted and unsupervised) TV viewing and electronic toys (PSP and other gizmos) become lazy to read and think. They have been exposed to and conditioned by overpowering images of violence, sex, or shallow entertainment shows. The effect of social media is overwhelming. It dominates the lives of the youth who tend to pick up weird ideas. The cyber quicksand — fake news, harmful data, pornography, malevolent ideas, cult practices, and harmful activities that are readily available, can swallow them.
The impressionable kids wonder why their lives are not “as perfect as the projected and well-crafted images, lifestyles of the celebrities and friends they follow. The Internet is a useful and powerful tool but it requires careful guidance. Innocent, gullible teens are the targets of perverse predators.
The young mind is a sponge that absorbs and retains unfiltered images and ideas for a very long time. Children who are taught as toddlers to read and to like books invariably develop into intelligent, well-focused well-informed and aware adults. They would develop a thirst for knowledge and a broad appreciation of the world.
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
