I wasn’t sure what to be grateful for this Thanksgiving — besides eating a home-cooked meal — until I read about James Arruda Henry. Henry was illiterate for most of his life until other senior residents at Academy Point in Mystic, Conn. taught him how to read and write. Two years later, Henry published his first novel at the age of 98 titled, “In a Fisherman’s Language.”
It may seem like a simple thing, but I’m grateful that I know how to read.
Actually, being literate is not something diminutive and insignificant — a sentiment to which I’m sure Henry can now attest. His journey from being unable to sign his own name to writing a 29-chapter memoir is a testament to the importance of literacy and the liberation it brings.
As an English major, I can’t fathom not being able to read, whether it be a novel or a restaurant menu. Literacy, essentially, gives us access to the world. It’s how we navigate through the society in which we live. It doesn’t matter if it’s reading a traffic sign or reading a historical document; literacy provides us with the tools necessary to analyze, interpret and comprehend the world.
When truly considered, the ability to read and write plays a greater role in our lives than we may realize, which is why it is imperative that parents, teachers and guardians make it their mission to teach these survival skills to children.
Illiteracy not only affects the mind, but the body as well. In a 2006 article in The New England Journal of Medicine titled “The Silent Epidemic — The Health Effects of Illiteracy,” Erin D. Marcus wrote that illiteracy can affect one’s quality of life in more ways than imagined.
Those who need immediate medical attention but who have low literacy may avoid seeking necessary care because they are intimidated by hospital forms and medical jargon. Others may not properly comprehend how to take their prescribed medication and end up putting their bodies at even greater risk. According to the article, one analysis concluded that Medicare enrollees with low literacy were more likely to be admitted to the emergency room than enrollees who were proficiently literate.
Although no direct connection between literacy and health has been reported, it has been noted that people who have poor reading skills are more likely to have poor health and run the risk of having serious health conditions or diseases. Other factors, such as genetics, could contribute to poor health, but truthfully, the greatest influence on our health is lifestyle.
Literacy provides us with the knowledge of what we’re consuming by simply being able to read the ingredients listed on a can of soda or read the surgeon general’s warning on a pack of cigarettes.
Literacy enables us to assess the pros and cons, not only of food, but of most aspects of our lives. It provides us with choice. It gives us the choice to want better, to envision and pursue the lives we want rather than settle for convenience, options that the illiterate can never have.