Have you read a good book lately? Why don't we talk about that today? Well, hello. How are you?
Welcome to The Daily Grateful. I'm Michael Kroos. And you know what I want to talk about today? I want to talk about reading.
Remember how they said reading is fundamental? Yeah, I remember all of that stuff. I have been reading since I was very, very young. As a matter of fact, I think reading is one of the most important things that we do.
I remember, I've got five kids, read all of them, but I really read a lot to my youngest son, Zach. When he was just a tiny little baby, as a matter of fact, when he was still in his mommy, I was reading books to him. I was reading Maurice Sendak's book. I was reading all kinds of books to him.
When he was young and then, when he was born, I read to him every day. Every night, when he was a baby, I'm reading to him. And then as he grew and grew and grew, I'm reading to him more. And we're just doing this.
And I'm going to get into this more in a minute, but I want to finish this thought on how cool reading has been for Zach. I remember when he was three and a half years old, and I'd go down to his bedroom at night, and we would pick out books, and I would read two or three children's books to him. And I was reading a book to him that he liked, and we're just moving right along, and I'm reading the book. I'm laying next to him in bed, and he's just so entrenched with this whole thing.
And then all of a sudden, I got a frog in my phone. I started coughing, and I had to drink some water. I found something right there where I could take a sip. And there was pollen in here, like there is now, which is ruining my voice.
But my voice will come back, I promise. But anyway, I'm reading this, and I couldn't read anymore. And Zach just is holding the book while I'm drinking some water. And then I'm listening, and Zach is sitting there reading the book.
And I lay down next to him, and he's continuing to read the book, and he turns the page, and he's reading, but he's three. He's three. He's had no formal training in reading, just a crazy father who has read to him since before he was born. And he's reading.
And I said, all right, we've read this book about a million times. Well, let's see if the kid can really read. So I reached down, and there was a book that we had not read. I pulled the book up.
And I said, here, read this for me. And he says, okay. And he opens up the book, and he starts reading it. I'm like, how do I not do that?
He goes, you taught me. Why? He goes, you've been reading to me forever. I learned how to do it.
I saw you read. I saw the words. I matched them up. I just learned how to read.
And he's reading this thing out loud. I said, come with me. He said, okay. I take him down to the master bedroom where his darling mother is laying on the bed.
And I said, watch this. And Zach is reading to her. She goes, oh, my God. She had to call the neighbor.
Mr. Klein. Mr. Klein, you have to come over.
Mr. Klein, you know, had a daughter named Rookie, who was Zach's same age. And Mr. Klein comes over, and Zach is reading.
And from that point on, when I would go to read to Zach, I didn't read to Zach. Zach read to me. And then we kept going to harder books, and he just kept reading, kept reading, and kept reading. And I wish I could say I had a similar upbringing.
I did not. Nobody read to me except Mrs. Buxton in kindergarten. She would read.
But I remember Mrs. Buxton. She was 20 years old when I was in kindergarten. I remember that because she had a birthday, and she was 20.
I was in kindergarten in 1956. I don't do math. If she's still alive, she's in her 80s or older. But anyway, yeah, God, got me thinking about that, didn't you?
Anyhow, I started reading at an early age. I remember that. I was reading at a very, very, very early age. I think I learned how to read at Lincoln Elementary School in Battle Creek, Michigan.
And I just kind of got into it, and I started reading. Reading has changed my life through time and history. I'm telling you, I always go to books. And the kind of books I like to read are not fiction books.
I'm not a big fiction book reader, although I've read some fiction, and some I like. As a matter of fact, one of my very favorite books is a fiction book that was written by a guy by the name of Dalton Trumbo in, I think, 1938. It was about a World War I combat soldier. It was called Johnny Got His Gun, and it was about a kid in World War I who got blown up near Foxhole, and he wakes up in a hospital.
And he had lost his arms. He had lost his feet. He had lost his mouth, his jaw, so he could not talk. And he was blind, and he could not hear.
He was essentially dead. And the rest of the book were his thoughts of being alive but not being alive, and his philosophies on war, and his philosophies on why he was there. And by the time I was done reading this book, I was like the biggest anti-war person you'd ever seen in your life. And I would suggest that you read the book.
I have given away, I'm going to say conservatively, I have given away 100 copies of that book throughout the years. When my daughter became a teenager, I had to go on eBay and find the book, and I ordered it for her, and she read it. Changed her life. So books can do that.
And these are the kind of books that I like. Possibility Thinking by Robert Shuler, the Reverend Robert Shuler. A book that changed my life. Totally changed my life.
Religious book. Totally and completely changed my life. So every day I try and read. I have books.
I have a lot of books. In the studio, I have books. I have a shelf. Out in the living room, full of books.
Multi-shelves. I have books in my bedroom. Reading is just probably one of the neatest things you do. So if you want to learn, my suggestion is you take up reading.
My very favorite ex-wife, Diane, reads three books a week. She's in a fiction, but she reads three very large books every week. For a while, I was reading four to five books a week. Then I got cataracts.
Yeah, you know, I couldn't read. I was just, it was really hard. Got cataract surgery. Started reading again.
I'm so grateful for books. Yeah, I got a Kindle, and I thought I would really love it. And I bought a bunch of Kindle books. No, I like holding a book in my hand and opening up the pages and reading it and taking my pencil and marking it up and underlining things.
You can't do that with Kindle. So read. We'll see you tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow.