Really, State of Michigan, really? Tell me more about your talent problem.
Sadly, we have fools at the federal judicial level (I'm looking at you, Judge Stephen Murphy III) who agree with the goons in Lansing. Here is the headline that got me fired up more recently, about the very same issue:
Um, what now?
Let's think about this. If we as Americans believe in unalienable rights like Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, than how does one expect to improve their life, be liberated from the bonds of ignorance and be happy without knowing how to read or write, pray tell?
Life
How can you be safe if you can't read? If you can't read street signs and you turn the wrong way? You can't read ingredients to avoid the one you're deathly allergic to? Dispute a billing error? How can you use the power of tools like books, the internet and, frankly, instructions, if you cannot read? How do you apply for jobs if you cannot read and write? How do you read stories to your children?
Liberty
How do you know the law, the rules of society? How do you know your rights without being able to read? How can you gain skills that get you a better job, liberating you from poverty, if you cannot read and write? How do you accurately do your taxes and make sure you are abiding by other laws to stay out jail? You know what the founding fathers did? They WROTE the Declaration of Independence.
Pursuit of Happiness
Ignorance is not bliss. Who the hell said that? Why would people proudly tout that they are ignorant? Why would anyone be proud to pass along that kind of attitude to their children? How do you read stories that you relate to? How do you select something new and delicious off the menu? When you ignore the world - complex issues, art, different cultures, politics, poetry, whatever - you do not give yourself the chance for a meaningful life. And when you can't read, you have talking heads feeding you those issues with their spin and their agenda. You don't need spin. You don't need to be part of other people's agenda. You have your own mind and you need your own voice.
So anyway, LITERACY IS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT. There is nothing anyone can tell me to think otherwise. This is not a debatable issue for me. People can transform their lives and the lives of their families through reading and writing. I can see why people in power would not like that. As I think of this, I think of the activist Assata Shakur's quote:
“No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free.”Read.
Write.
Let knowledge set you and your family free from whatever it is that has you in chains.
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