A Bookworm on Broadway

I saw a boy on the street today while I was walking home. He cradled a sizable stack of books in his arms, holding them just as a young child would his favorite stuffed animal to sleep with. He was not a particularly handsome boy, there was nothing out of the ordinary about him that would have normally caught my eye, except the way he was holding the books and one thing more-- the look of complete and utter joy on his face. I could tell the joy he was experiencing had something, if not everything, to do with those books. I thought it was such an odd, yet refreshing, picture to take in. Rarely do I see a teenager (or so he appeared) get excited about anything, much less, a stack of books. So, I carried that picture with me in my mind the rest of the way home and thought about the boy all the while. I wondered, what it was in those books that could put such a smile on that boy's face. Was it that they entertained him? Was it that they provided an escape to other worlds or deeper dimensions of his imagination? Was it that they contained knowledge he was seeking? I could only speculate. What my conclusion of the matter came to be is that I had no idea. But, what I do know is that it didn't really matter either way. Why? Because either way, the words written in them and the boy, himself, would become one and the same.

Who he will be in the future will be determined, in part, by what he has taken in from the world around him, as well as what was written in those books. They will be absorbed ...their messages forever grafted into his DNA--shaping his perspectives on life and death and everything in between. Maybe that was the source of joy, then, knowing that he had just taken one more step towards the person he is to be and maybe he was excited to catch a glimpse of what that person looks like. Maybe my conclusion is wrong and I am making something simple into something complex, but it was a thought--and it was one that made me think about the things I have taken in, the words from voices past that have moved me and have been grafted into my DNA along the way, molding me into the person I am. It is fascinating to reflect on. But, what is even more fascinating to me is how much of the process of absorbing our world of messages is done without us ever being truly conscious of it happening. Makes me want to really be mindful, then, of what I surround myself with...what messages I allow to cross my path...to the extent that I can...so that the better, brighter things, the things that inspire, the things that strengthen, the things that challenge, the things that improve are the things that become one with me.