They Laughed At Me For Reading
No Joking, They Did
I’m very serious bro, they laughed at me for reading.
I noticed that I was treated with contempt, people said “I was pretending to read to show I was intelligent”. Others said I wanted to show up.
It was all people’s reaction whenever I was with a book.
Ours is a culture that does not respect knowledge. It is a culture that laughs at you when you want to acquire knowledge.
I remember when I told my cousins that Philip was doing an MSc, she was like “Haba, the certificates he has are enough already. The schooling is enough”.
That’s our world.
Worse still, if you are from Jenta, you will face higher stigmatization. I remember a specific lady who was shocked that there was no university graduate from Jenta! Can you imagine? The thing with stereotypes is that they set the limit for what one can aspire to be in a society. Unfortunately, ours is a stereotype that says “Learning is not for you. Learning is not important. Forget the book. School na scam”.
For me, I didn’t need any new motivation to read. The very lives of the people who were perpetrating these stereotypes were enough reason to want knowledge. None of them looked like what I wanted to be. I wanted to be like Ben Carson, like Nelson Mandela, like Abraham Lincoln, or at least, I should be Martin Luther King Jr. To be any of that, I had to prepare. It was Abraham Lincoln who said, “I will read and prepare, and someday, my chance will come”. I wanted to be ready when my time came. I’m still trying to qualify for the job.
And that is why I became interested in being part of any bookish activity around my city. I wanted to be actively involved in fighting these stereotypes. I wanted to change people’s attitudes towards books and knowledge. I wanted them to see that books and knowledge are not something only for the elites. I wanted young boys and young girls to be able to dream and not experience backlash in their communities. We are yet to succeed, but I’m glad we are on the journey.
Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for being bookish, knowledgeable, or educated. It is not your fault that they are not. Of course, don’t be proud. Just don’t be timid or intimidated.
The way I thought about it once is by saying “If these people who are ignorant can be bold and bullish in their ignorance, what more of me who is intentionally working towards acquiring knowledge?”
Recently, I came across a Charles Burkowski quote who put it in better words “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
Be smart. Be knowledgeable. Be confident. And be humble!
I can relate to this narrative. People will say 'who book help, we need money please'. Poor reading culture stems from no curiosity to know new things. The inquisitiveness that is born with every child is replaced with want, poverty and sourcing for a livelihood. But we can change this. We can become better persons and that is why I'm a strong advocate of kids learning to read books other than their academic books. Learning to read should be ingrained from childhood.
This is very common Sir, I remember a lady asking me "why do you still read when you're already done with school"?. I laughed and responded "the same reason why you still eat even when you've grown so big".
And the worst part is, some will call you names mockingly because they see you reading. And most times I just say silently in my mind, "I wish they knew what they're missing".