Dear Reader: You’re Not Alone!
Dear Reader: You’re not alone.
There are some days when we all need to hear somebody’s voice saying those three syllables.
You’re not alone!
Honestly, you’re not.
But have you ever found yourself in a library isle—or in front of a bookstore display—or halfway down an Amazon page—or even in the middle of a circle of friends—and felt horribly, painfully sure that when it comes to books, you really are alone.
It’s not a fun feeling.
In fact, it’s a lonely, isolating, character-warping feeling.
And it’s a feeling that can be overwhelmingly difficult to deal with, because it feels so painfully true.
When Readers Feel Alone
Convictions—opinions—values. They’re incredibly personal. Incredibly variable.
And nowhere is this fact so evident, as in the world of books.
People who share backgrounds, interests, social circles, political affiliation, church affiliation—people who show up intentically in every demographic statistic—people who you’d expect to agree on just about everything, can have radically—RADICALLY!—different ideas about reading.
And radically different ideas can make us feel alone.
The saddest part is, that when we feel alone, we start to shut down. We become ashamed of the things we were meant to be proud of. We hold up our convictions, but only by drooping our heads.
We Stop Talking about the Books that Matter to Us
And as we stop talking, we lose our hold on the lifeline that was supposed to teach us a poignant and powerful truth: Being a minority and being alone are two totally different things.
You are a minority. You’re a minority because every person on this earth has been given special gifts, and talents, and convictions that not everyone else is going to share.
But you’re not alone.
Because when God gave you those gifts, and talents, and convictions, He gave them to touch and influence other lives.
Breaking the Silence
Silence is a powerful factor in this whole equation. We feel alone because others are silent. We feel alone, and we become silent. We become silent, and we cause others to feel alone. We remain silent, and we feel even more alone ourselves.
Reading choices are an intensely personal topic. It can take a huge amount of courage to break through our own acquiescence in this idea that we ARE alone.
Because it’s only after we break the silence, that we realize the silence itself was a lie.
Sometimes our own desperation for support can provide enough motivation to reach through the silence, and find out that after all, we’re not alone in the books we care about—even when those books have been branded obsolete or unpopular.
At other times, it takes the realization that our values can be a help and encouragement to others—a step of faith to believe that we aren’t alone, no matter how alone we may feel—that pushes us out of our comfort zone, gives us courage to face the possibility of rejection, and allows us to discover that the things we value and choose to fight for are things other readers value and want to fight for, as well.
Dear Reader: You’re NOT Alone!
This year, SAW Publishing’s Dear Reader series wants to stand with you, and vocalize some of the reading-related convictions on which you’re truly NOT alone.
We’re going to tackle the issue of peer-pressure, and be honest about some of the fiction we really do enjoy, even when we’re tempted to feel immature for still liking picture books, in our twenties.
We’re going to tackle even more peer-pressure, and let the world know we care about “good” characters, even when complex villains and fallen heroes happen to be getting most of the glamour in the publishing world of our day.
We’re going to admit that we love feminine heroines—and spiritually-challenging themes.
We’re going to tell the world that mothers and daughters can read the same books—and that it’s honestly beautiful when they do!
We’re going to remind ourselves that we’re not alone.
Because we aren’t!
We just all face days when we need somebody to say it out loud.
Can you thing of other reader-related topics, where you’d love to hear that you’re not alone? Go ahead and post them in the comments section below. We’d be honoured to help you discover other readers who share your passion!
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