Yes, literacy leads. No, that statement is not merely a quickie of a bow in the right direction, just because September 8 was the international literacy day. Instead let us discuss why literacy leads.
Well, let me remind you of the anecdote of the frog in the well that Swami Vivekananda narrated in his speech at Chicago. For this frog, his small little puddle was the sea which he had never ever seen, and could not imagine hence. In other words, he was belittling grandeur itself, and thus making himself small in the process.
An illiterate person is like that opinionated frog. She/he misses a lot as s/he merely 'perceives' the world. He never knows it, neither understands it, nor becomes better hence. An ignoramus he continues to be.
Literacy allows us to read, and thus sensitises us ,opens up our vision, makes us thus better beings, and truly thus part(icipant) of the world as a family.
No wonder, since 1967, the United Nations is insistent about the celebration of the ILD. This year, it was celebrated in New Mexico. Equally interesting was its motto; namely, the ILD is not only for people, but for the prosperity of the planet, too, which we have absolutely madly marauded, mortified, murdered literally, given our enviornmental excesses! It is in this sense, too, that literacy leads, and better, if one is literate in many languages!
Pratima@ I would, nevertheless, like to maintain that the illiterate have their own intelligence. An example could be the rural vegetable vendor whom no city sleeker can confuse or confound, right? Similarly, for a better planet, the uninitiated in to literacy but wise beyond words kind of sons n daughters of the soil have souls that care! Sure, once they become literate, too, literacy leads them out of poverty and, hence, in to the land of hope!
Quote of the day: Frederick Douglass asserts, "once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
Word of the day: illiterate An illiterate is a person who is not able to read or write.
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