Today is International Literacy Day each year. On this day every year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally.
A letter from UNESCO points out that despite many and varied efforts, literacy remains an elusive target: some 776 million adults lack minimum literacy skills which means that one in five adults is still not literate; 75 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.
This year, International Literacy Day will put the spotlight on the empowering role of literacy and its importance for participation, citizenship and social development.
According to Copywrite, Ink. to recognize the day thousands of bloggers are joining BloggersUnite.org and the APPLE Partnership in cooperation with Barnes & Noble; BlogCatalog.com; the City of Henderson (Nevada); Copywrite, Ink.; FedEx; PBS&J; and Wal-Mart to dedicate a post, instant message, or news release related to International Literacy Day.
As a copywriter, reading and writing are obviously very important to me. But reading has always been a big part of my life personally. I can’t remember when I first started reading, but I do know what author first made me want to pick up a book.
As a kid, I was obsessed with Dr. Seuss. Every night at bedtime, it was Seuss. No exceptions. I was amazed when I was able to start reading his books on my own (with the occasional help from Mom).
Since then, there hasn’t been a time when I wasn’t in the middle of reading something…sometimes multiple books at once. Books have taught me so much about life, showing me that anything is possible if only in my mind.
My love of reading is also something I closely share with my wife. Part of getting to know each other was through reading each other’s favorite books.
So today of all days, remember how important literacy is, not only as a society, a country or a world, but also as individuals. Remember how magical it was when you first starting reading and help pass that feeling on to others.
