It’s funny how your passions can change over the years. Sometimes even revisiting old passions from the past can stir hibernated emotions. Being surrounded by all of the technology and media of today I had almost forgotten what those passions were. I found myself succumbing to cable television, video games, movie theaters, and the internet. All of which obscured and dulled the imagination I once had as a child. I had become a slave to visual stimulation and realized what had once made me dream had now almost vanished completely. I’m not saying that I do not appreciate the value of these visual forms of media and imagination but more or less have been moved by my childhood love of reading.
Books moved me. The escape I found buried in their pages was extraordinary and until recently have I found a rekindled passion for diving into their pages once more. One day, I just stopped reading and found many more interests that took more time, energy and ambition than what I could devote to a good story. Something was about to change inside of me very soon.
What confuses me most is that even though I wasn’t a big fan of English classes in high school, especially writing, was that I acquired the desire to start writing poetry one day, long ago, for reasons that will be left to tell at a later time. The point is that this new found passion and talent became an obsession to me and I couldn’t put down a pen. Through the years I have had a deep desire to write a novel but haven’t quite mastered my writing ability. Then one day I happened across an article that said something to the point that a good writer needs to always be reading. It really didn’t register at that moment what was said and so I still kept writing poetry without ever really picking up anyone else’s writing and reading it.
Oddly enough, over the years, two of my roommates were History majors and somehow got me interested in World War II history. The next thing I knew I found myself browsing the shelves of the bookstore for World War II stories. Within a few weeks I had purchased near two dozen books and stories related to World War II. I read one or two history books that were devoted to the politics and tactics behind the war but the books that really sucked me in were the recounted stories told by actual soldiers that fought on the battlefield. These stories of real life heroes inspired me but after time the emotion from their trials of war made me hunger for fiction once again.
I grew up reading science fiction and fantasy books and had a hard time putting them down once I started reading the first page. I often caught myself reading books in every class and not listening to what was being taught but strangely enough I was able to ace most assignments and get near straight A’s in school. Maybe it’s because I am a little older and have different tastes but I didn’t crave the science fiction or fantasy genre as much but did want to read stories that were more true to life. And so my passion for reading was once again in full bloom and now I can’t put down a book once I start. I have been faithfully reading since the beginning of the year and keep adding books to the list of what I would like to read.
I hope that with reading as much as I do now and that I try and write frequently I will fulfill that dream of one day writing that story that is hibernating somewhere deep within my heart. Storytelling has been around since the beginning of man so I encourage everyone to turn the television off, throw the videogame controller down and pick up a good novel and see the difference it makes in your life. If you’re addicted to the History Channel like I am maybe then I’ll forgive you.
