Fourth of July

Fireworks
Originally uploaded by foodchronicles.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Usually when one thinks of Independence Day people talk of the picnics, the beach trips, freedom, sacrifice or any number of other topics that signify this great nation.

I think of something else completely. When I was a young child, I was given a book. It became my favorite children's book. Black Beauty. I got it for my eighth Christmas. It came wrapped in its own cover, it was the most beautiful book I had ever seen. I was taught how to break in a book and told how, if I was very careful, this book would be mine forever. My mother took the time to explain the importance of books. You see, she had witnessed the book burnings of the second world war. The atrocity that was burning books to keep people from expanding thier horizons and learning about something they wished to learn. How we, as Americans, could enjoy the gift of reading and learning, anything we wished. It burned inside me. I took to reading as a way to travel and experience things I never thought I would be able to do any other way. I began collecting books - not just cookbooks - but books on just about every subject one can imagine. I read and learned about other people in the world, thier lives and their differences, and most of all how much we are alike.

So Independence Day to me means to read. Really read. Anything and everything. So while on your dash to the picnic or the beach or the mountains or sitting at home under the air conditioning, take time to grab a book and read a passage or two. Remember, we can read, and enjoy, anything.