#5: Books

It's absolutely breathtaking how many worlds we have the power to delve into when we look at our own home bookshelf or a library. It's absolutely mind-boggling how many stories you can escape to, how many people we can cry with, how many places we have traveled to, how many victories and obstacles we have overcome to defeat the bad guy. When you're reading a book, you're definitely not just taking in the letters stamped on a piece of paper. You are living what the characters are living.
People incessantly talk about how they wish magic were real or if things could be different than they are now. Well really, there's a way for it to happen. People just seem to overlook it.
One of the saddest things I have heard people say is, "I don't like to read." ...Why do you not like to read? "Oh, I don't know, I just don't like it."
...
I feel so sorry for those people, I honestly do. Every day they miss an opportunity to experience something that nothing else can do. When you open a book, a whole world unfolds itself into your mind. And even though millions of other people may have read that very exact book, it's as if that story is only yours. You imagine where the characters are, you imagine what the people look like. You get the feeling that everything in that story was made for you to witness.
I believe without a doubt that if teenagers and children enjoyed reading and read more, that they would be a lot more content with themselves and would fall less into things such as drugs and drinking.
There are other ways left to live, and one of the best, if you're tired with the world and want to forget where you are for a while, is by opening that dusty book on your bookshelf.