People are finding more and more ways to avoid reading. They get their news from TV and radio. They listen to books on tape. Everything from road signs to prepared-food packages now include quickly decipherable symbols instead of those pesky words. And the sad truth is that it is becoming easier and easier to function in the world today without having to bother with the printed word.
People can get along quite well without ever reading.
Reading is like no other way of learning. But when we read, we have to make connections. The task of reading is the act of thinking, putting things together in a logical sequence and understanding how the pieces make a whole. And if we lose that thinking ability, all the information in the world won't help us, because we won't know what to do with it. We will be like pilgrims on a road.