Inspiration begins with "I wonder"

Wistawa Szymborska, in her 1996 Nobel Laureate acceptance talk spoke of the people in the world whom inspiration visits.  Though these people are blessed, inspiration has little to do with luck. She speaks of the how inspiration is born from a continuous “ I don’t know.”

Readers are in a continuous state of I don’t know; they are always seeking an understanding of characters who often are very different from themselves. One measure of a good reader is how they strive to know what they don’t yet know. Readers are interested in going way beyond the plot line which is a place to begin to know what happened but which is never an end point.  What happened needs to be followed with Who are these characters, how do I understand them?

Good readers have questing spirits. They are not content with knowing only what they know. They are not afraid to inhabit their restless, questing state of mind. A story is less about what happened than the desire to know and maybe even love characters who are so different.


Children are blessed with a perpetual I don’t know but all too often they lose this precious quality and as Szymborska notes, many people, all too often, replace it with I don’t want to find out anything  else, since that might diminish the force of their arguments As Szymborska says “ I value the little phrase “ I don’t know.”  Imagine, if Isaac Newton had never said to himself, I don’t know.

Reading as a powerful skill

If you were given the choice between the power of flying, invisibility or being able to read, which power would you choose? As intriguing as the first two might be, I think reading wins hands down in terms of granting you access to the wisdom of the smartest people who ever lived.  Reading might just be the most powerful skill a person can have. Readers can see the world from the viewpoint of someone else, protecting you from the mistakes and untruths of others as well as your own ignorance.  And most importantly, reading has the power to transport you to different places and different periods of time.

The courage to be curiosity

Curiosity drives one to know what is not easily apprehended. It takes courage to go where your curiosity takes you. Good readers are curious people, they strive to know. While reading an essay on the significance of reading in a person’s life, I came across an anecdote of a child who dares to ask big questions. Like a mountain to be scaled, such a child can look a question in the eye and does not let fear foreclose their looking and seeing and understanding.

Reading encourages people to tackle the big questions as we vicariously inhabit a story. The best of stories are a route to scale the mountains of questions. Not all  ‘readers-travelers’ know the route and books are a great help since they contain the choices of so many other explorers and mountain-climbers. They are the ones who can point out the best trails and reveal the most secret passages.

So if you want to  stare the enormous question in the eye, you’ll be glad you brought some books in your backpack.  The person who reads holds this world of exploration in their hands.  Through curiosity they come to know, like the highest peaks in the world, questions love to be scaled and pondered.  

A new U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo will become the 23rd poet laureate of the United States, making her the first Native American to hold the position. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. In her own words—

"It's such an honoring for Native people in this country, when we've been so disappeared and disregarded," Harjo says. "And yet we're the root cultures, over 500-something tribes and I don't know how many at first contact. But it's quite an honor ... I bear that honor on behalf of the people and my ancestors. So that's really exciting for me."

It seems as fitting time to recommend Barry Lopez’s book, *Crow and Weasel. Set in the mythic past and inspired by the traditions of the North American Plains people, this fable of self-discovery follows Crow and Weasel as they face unfamiliar perils on a quest for knowledge and wisdom  The book contains one of my most treasured souvenirs—a quote directly from the book I like to keep ad share with others.

“The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other's memory. This is how people care for themselves.”