Respect for Books

Books have always had a very special place in our hearts. Whether they are religious or otherwise. In the beginning its story books, fairy tales and then we progress to lengthier, thicker, more complicated books.

The first gift that I remember I got was a set of 12 fairy tales. And Alhamdulillah it has been a long and fruitful relationship ever since. We respect books because, in our minds, we associate every book to The BOOK. And since we have the utmost respect for THE BOOK hence by association we respect every book. We make sure that no book is on the floor, we hold it properly and take care of it.

But things are changing. We don’t respect books like we used to. The value of respect is being taken out of our societies. Our children don’t know what that is anymore. I was in class once when a magazine was being distributed. Within five minutes, the boys had started playing with it, rolling it up and hitting each other with it, throwing it at each other, tearing it up and what not.

The schools are always short of room hence there is no place for shelves where students can keep their bags and other stuff. They keep their bags by their sides on the floor, automatically decreasing or demolishing what respect they had for what’s in the bags. Pages of old books are used to wrap Naan, or other items. Books have just become a tool for us. To be used when it is seen fit and then later discarded. Every year students throw away their last year’s books and copies and buy new ones, which tells them that they are all replaceable.

What we seriously need is to realize the important role that books play in our lives. We have to instill the respect of books back into our hearts. Because respect is the one thing that will take us to higher platforms. Respect our books like they deserve to be respected. Keep them safe, read from them again and again, and most important, to learn from them the messages that are in them.