“Books not only opened windows to new worlds for me, they also unlocked hidden doors inside me”

 

The best of everything that there will ever be is not people or gadgets or technology. It is books.

They are always there for us – providing us refuge, giving us reasons to reflect and relate.

I am not negating the importance of gadgets and technology. Nor am I advocating against people.

I am telling the tale of peace that we find when we make friends with books, of a fulfilling bond that is established over time and of love that does not fade away.

Books not only opened windows to new worlds for me, they also unlocked hidden doors inside me. Books do not discriminate; they do the magic on everyone that is willing to be enchanted.

They make us more compassionate and willing to listen to people and enable us to understand them better. Reading enchants me and it enchants all of us.

Growing up, I saw the reading culture slowly diminishing. That made me pledge my allegiance to books, to hold on to words of magic for as long as I can and to try to revive the passion of reading among others.

If you are going to make one new friend today, make reading your friend.

It will become your best friend for life before you even know, because books are waiting for you to make you feel the peace that you have always longed for. The time spent with books is a time preserved forever.

I wrote this poem one day when I was sitting and recalling all the amazing things that books had introduced me to.

Of course, the gifts that books have bestowed upon me go beyond this poem. It is a little chunk from the bigger, more beautiful picture.

It might inspire children to read and people who already read will relate to it. May books be your friends for life. Happy Reading!

A Syrian refugee reads a book in the centre of Athens, Greece

 

Idyllic Journey

Books took me on long tours,

In magical valleys, with fictious friends.

I touched the moon, I tasted the light,

â¨I wasn’t blinded, it was never too bright.

â¨I felt sunshine, I painted the sky,

I touched flowers like a butterfly.

â¨I walked in rain, I caught a cloud,

â¨I felt like a kid, because it was allowed.

Been through darkness and came out in light,

Been to places where things shone at night.

Been very silent and extremely loud,

â¨Been so silly, yet nobody would shout.

Been to places where people never fought,

Where real things were taught, and happiness wasn’t bought.

Been to the places you haven’t been,

If you haven’t read the books, or gave it a thought!