Out of the box

As far as I can remember, I’ve always loved reading. As a kid, it was a way to escape the monotony of school. As an adult, it is a means to break away from the ennui of work.

To me, reading should be as natural as breathing for all human beings. For heaven’s sake, books and other reading materials are basic vehicles of communication! Communicating, verbal or non-verbal, is what we do everyday.

It’s baffling to me why reading would be a neglected snag in today’s work places. I also heard that adults nowadays seldom prefer reading as a hobby.

So, with the existing scenario, expect Filipino officemates who loath reading books and news publications to settle on discussing the travails of their favorite TV soap opera heroes or the love lives of movie stars and their neighbors.

That’s the disadvantage of having a limited repertoire of subject matters for conversation --- talk revolves only around other people and mundane matters. After a time, it can get really boring. Eventually, it feels like your life is boxed-in to “birth, school, work, marriage, death.”

Don't you think that's confining and claustrophobic ?

I do.

Books widen the doors of imagination and stimulates the mind. It ignites creativity, ingenuity and resourcefulness--- qualities which are valuable in the work place. And best of all, it widens the range of office conversation topics.

There’s got to be more to life than diapers, loans, showbiz personalities, clinging housewives, rebellious kids, wayward husbands, clothes and work.