In 2002, I wrote Mr. Carillo a short essay "confessing" my love for reading. At that time, I was religiously following his column in Manila Times which I found very informative and entertaining. Fast forward to seven years later, I got an email from him asking me if I could share the said essay in this forum and of course, I gladly agreed. Humbly, here is the full text of the essay with slight revisions:
I Confess That I Love to Read...
Bless me, Mister, for I have read: I confess that I learned to read when I was a young girl of four. I was helpless to decipher the characters at first, but I soon learned they were called letters, with vowels and consonants for their names. I then resolved to conquer the written world and conquer it I did. And I will admit that at the very first moment I could read “Manufactured by” on candy wrappers, I fell in love with Reading, and because I chose to read the adventures of Donald Duck and Tom Sawyer rather than play with my Barbie, I missed what might have been a typical childhood.
I confess that because of my reading habits, I greatly improved my English vocabulary and got acquainted with other foreign languages as well, especially the archaic, dead languages of the ancient world, which made me decide to study them someday.
I confess that I would rather read books on Philosophy, History, and Classic and Contemporary Literature on Life, Love, and Learning rather than be with someone who couldn’t even differentiate one genre from the other.
I confess that I love to read, and I make a vow to continue reading even if old age eventually takes its toll on my vision. If blindness had not stopped Jose Luis Borges from writing and learning more, nothing can deter me either. No matter what.
P.S. I just want you to know that I appreciate your articles. I hope educators and academicians all over the country will realize the importance of your advice about reading. More than ever, we need people like you who can communicate in a concise, clear, erudite manner, so everyone—especially Filipino students— can benefit from the example. As you may have observed, our generation’s English is degenerating. We need a truly radical measure to save Filipino children from further oral and written disabilities. Reading should be encouraged thoroughly and continuously, without any exception!
Thank you, Sir Joe. More power to RP's first ever English Forum!
Sheryl Martinez
http://www.bookoto.com
