Can You Answer Why?
Once upon a time, I went out on a date with a girl who was kind enough to say yes. There clearly was not going to be a second date the moment she said she had ferrets for pets. All that aside, she asked the question which I thought had an obvious answer until it came up. “Why?”
I had been telling her about the books I had been reading, about the ideas they were fostering. She asked me, “Why?”
Confused by the question, I asked her to elaborate. She clarified, she wanted to know why I read as much as I did, why I chose to spend my time the way I did, and why I spent more time with books than with girls who might actually want to go on a second date with me.
I think I responded “Because,” but enough time has passed I can only recall giving a lame answer. Even though my answer didn’t stick with me, the question itself has. My defense was pathetic because I truly hadn’t questioned the reason I drove myself into books and into learning. I had failed to answer why.
Now that I’m relatively older, and have spent more time ruminating on the question, I can give a better answer. I read because reading is an efficient way to make up for experience either yet to be lived, or which will never be lived. I read to learn from the successes and mistakes of others, to hopefully repeat more successes and less mistakes. I read to learn and be comforted…
