Humanity In Literacy
"Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories."
~ Kofi Annan
When i was still with my parents, one day, my mom sat all three of my brothers down and gave us a very long talk about our future. We were just kids. We knew nothing about life. That time, all I thought about was how to finish my house chores, eat and play.
In this meeting with my mom, she gave us intense lectures of life and how bitter-sweet it can be. She was raw. She hid nothing but she spat life facts at our face. She also gave us a valuable guide on how to navigate through the rough terrain of life. In her words, She may not be alive for long, thats why she's telling us this things now.
One thing i will never forget is when she made us promise her something. She made us promise her that we will use pen and paper to feed ourselves and our family to come, buy lands, cars and houses with just pen and paper.
As a kid, i thought she meant drawing my own money or something, but now, i think i perfectly understand what momma was trying to say. She's still alive and agile though but that promise kept me growing and it pulled me off the world of Illiteracy.
Moms good, Momma knows best, however, this post is not about my mom. This post is an entry for hive learners prompt; LITERACY. Its quite a nice topic. Interesting questions were asked. So, grab a chair, get yourself a snack or something, and let me take you on a smooth ride.
Literacy is actually a good thing. To me, it encompasses the academic pursuit of knowledge. The search for knowledge and the actions taken to implement these knowledge into the betterment of our society speaks highly of how important being a literate is.
However, if a person is learned, does that mean they will become better parents? or better neighbors? Does literacy makes somebody more sympathetic or empathetic?
Though literacy is a very good thing, i don't actually think it can fully affect a persons behavior towards others. Yes, most literates dont make the biggest noise, but then, i don't really think being literate means that somebody can be a good parent.
I don't see literacy as a one way ticket to being a good and responsible person. I see literacy as a stepping stone to achieving this because literacy comes with a whole lot of knowledge, including that of human relationships and behavior.
With these knowledge, literates have more chance of becoming better people to the society as compared to an illiterate.
This does not mean that illiterates are not able to become good people too. Sometimes, illiterates can have healthy families, and friends when compared to a literate. However, they will first need to learn from experience how to keep these healthy relationships.
Thank you for reading.
The search of knowledge is always a path to understand better the world, including who is next to us. We become better!! But still we need the kindness inherited before all the studies !