A lifetime lesson learned.

What does it really mean when you hear persons such as teachers and others speak about lifetime readers? Take a minute to think through it.

Readers start at the age of one or two years when they recognize the rhythm of your voice as you read to them. As they age, word recognition begins. By the time they reach five or six years it is generally recognized that they have reached the 'age of reason'. This means that they have become capable of basic thought progression and early cognitive understanding. This is the progressive process that we all seek to retain for the balance of our lives, if we are to be useful to ourselves and others.

To be successful at this retention/growth goal requires constant usage or we lose our learned abilities. Our youngsters need to know the absolute importance of practice--practice--practice. They also need to know that there are three basic reasons to read, #1. Pleasure and, #2. Education/technology and #3. Avoidance or delay of Alzheimer's disease.

Becoming a true long term reader has paid a high price since the advent of television and home computer technology. As shocking as it may seem newspaper readership has decreased by 80% over the last twenty five years. The sale of Fiction and Non-Fiction books has not faced the same decline, however considering population increase a similar decline exists and is an evident trend. With the fast pace of today's life it is difficult to provide the time to enjoy reading. Failure to keep pace with current events and failure to take time for pleasurable or historical reading carries with it the high price of narrow knowledge and then reliance on the opinions of others. Your own independent thought or judgment becomes the victims of subtle laziness.

I remember very well a lesson learned on Valentines Day in 1964. I had occasion to become acquainted with a brilliant entertainment talent who I was to learn also was a brilliant all round thinker and person. His name was Steve Allen. That February night at a banquet in Encino, we talked about politics, philosophy, and the like and struck up a resultant corresponding friendship. This led to Steve sending me several books including one that frankly shocked me. The book was a political treatise containing extreme disfavored viewpoints. I called and said "Steve, I'm shocked; I didn't know that you would partake of such extreme views." He laughed heartily and said "Kevin, lesson #1, you must always read everything you can get your hands on, and then you will know both sides of every issue. Only then will you be prepared to make a proper decision". He went on, "You must know more about your adversary than he knows about you if you ever want to be a successful debater". This turned out to be one of the most important lessons of my life.

I have become more of a technical and historical reader myself, however today I read day and night as a result of Steve's thoughtful lesson. At my current 'long of tooth' age, I have a greater appetite to read than I have hours to cover my subscriptions and text purchases. My rewards for heeding Steve's suggestion have been one thousand fold. I firmly believe that all of us, and particularly our children would be well served to learn to read hard-copy and news print and nurture this reading habit as practiced by true lifetime readers. Although technology is useful, reading the written word in books will never be replaced by the limited and manipulable view of a TV or computer screen.

J. Kevin Murphy is Headmaster & CEO for Egremont Schools, Inc. located at 19850 Devonshire Street in Chatsworth. For more information, he can be reached at 818-363-7803.