I was a studious kid in my primary school, whenever the teacher asks us to read a text, I was the first to raise my hand, I liked when I read and the teacher compliments my reading, at that time, we studied Arabic which is our native language, and French from 2nd or 3rd grade, for English I didn’t start it academically till 10th grade which I think was pretty late, we used to speak Moroccan dialect at home, and only few times did my father and brother speak to me in French, my father used to correct my grammar in French, I still recall a lesson he always repeated because I always get mistaken, “Quand deux verbes se suivent, le deuxième se met à l’infinitif”, I never really liked French, probably because no one used to practice it with me, and in an early age, I tended to repel what I’m not good at, but it seemed to me that grown-ups speak French more, and by grown-ups, I mean the class of people who earn respect of others, and are liked for speaking in French more than the Moroccan dialect, which is really just an inferiority complex, but I was just a kid back then and no one explained it to me, so I judged like many people that someone who speaks a foreign language is superior in some way, without really focusing on the content they deliver, here is a first lesson kids, language is not the end but the means.
A 7th grader girl found joy in a middle school library where she used to borrow books, I used to read Arabic writers like Ihssan Abd Alqoudouss, Najib Mahfouz, Moustapha Almanfalouti, I remember the names because I used to read by author, I read some classics in French that I don’t remember a single one today, it seems like people preach about them more than they actually read them, I was forcing myself into them until I thought, I should probably go with novels, I started reading 21st century novelists, like Guillaume Musso, Marc Levy, and I used to devour any psychology book that I find, it was a hard task to carry a paper form dictionary to look for difficult words until phones made it easier with digital dictionaries, later on my mother bought me a phone, a 9th grader with a phone that has access to a digital library, this was a thing back then, I could download books in a pdf version, I also downloaded Wattpad, a free platform for users to read and write, my vocabulary expanded gradually as I kept reading short to middle length stories in Wattpad, not only in French, but also in English.
My 10th grade which is my first year in high school was probably the year I was most disciplined to read, I used to wake up before anyone at home, at 6/6:30 o’clock, make myself breakfast, and read while having it, keep reading until it’s time to go, go to school by feet, and resume reading once there, I read when the teacher is not there yet, I read in breaks, I read after school, and while having meals, I read at night, I made it into a habit, I loved being around books, I loved being overwhelmed by books, whether paper form’s or digital, but I loved paper’s more, I bought my first English book in 11th grade, “Where rainbows end” by Cecilia Ahern, I followed it by Divergent book series, John Green books, and I was reading more of English books even the thickest, ficton or philosophy or anything that speaks to me, I loved the language, I loved how my vocabulary was getting wider in a new language for me, something else than my will to read helped me carry on, is having friends who read, with whom I can exchange not only books but also ideas, something else could help, if any of my family members were readers it could have made me start reading earlier, but anyways, my mother was happy seeing me engulfed in a book, she smiles everytime she gets in my room and finds me reading, she has never told me to do homework or read, she knew I’ll do it because I want to.
I am a reader today, and I am grateful of my reading journey, reading has given me peace with myself, has made me appreciate my own company, gave me longer attention spans ,has helped me listen, become less timid with time, find my voice and speak up, made me think more logically, argue and debate, feel worthy as a person, question anything, be aware of preconceived ideas, be more openminded, demolish anything that doesn’t stand up, form opinions of my own, thrive for knowledge, stand for what seems right and act according to it, it is always a delight to read a good book, especially the one that finds you in the right time, more than the one that you seek, “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you” says Mortimer Adler.
“If you want to change the world, start with yourself” as Gandhi puts it in words, I want to, and I am doing what it takes, I believe that small changes add up, and they do lead to bigger changes, for the sake of a better world for all of us.
