Grateful for reading

Today I found out that someone with whom I have a lot of difficulties getting along with cannot read and write. I had guessed as much but was told this was definitely the case today as somehow he never learned while at school. It explains a lot about his attitude to me and the huge chip he has on his shoulder. No wonder he flies off the handle if he feels he is not getting enough respect as not being able to read and write probably makes him feel at a terrible disadvantage compared to everyone else.

It has made me think about how grateful I am to be able to read. How grateful I am for all the pleasure that I get from my books as well as the possibility to look up anything that I want to know about. I love this picture (which I found on the internet) where the man is going into a completely different world through his book. I seem to be a doing a lot of this myself nowadays especially when things seem very bleak. There is nothing like a good story to give me a different perspective and change my mood.