No, this isn’t going to be a political diatribe. Not really. Well, almost not.

But I’m struck as I’m out promoting Open Your Heart with Reading by the inability of many well-meaning people to understand how destructive it is to live in a country with 90 million functionally illiterate adults. That’s the kind of statistic one expects to see in third-world countries. That’s the kind of statistic one never expects to see at “home.”

And yet it’s true.

Emma Goldman, one of my favorite rabble-rousers, said, “The most violent element in society is ignorance.” It makes for a clever bumper sticker, but it also reflects a clarity of thought we’d do well to consider and even emulate.

No, I can’t be light-hearted about this. Because it’s my fault. It’s my fault, and it’s your fault: it’s the fault of anyone who can read these words that we’ve allowed this kind of situation to develop. Why aren’t we clamoring for better education? Why aren’t we out on the streets, claiming that a basic education — the minimum amount of eduction required to navigate through life in a first-world country — is not accessible to all and required of all? Why aren’t we more appalled? 90 million people in this country cannot read what I am writing here. More importantly, 90 million people can’t read voter registration cards or warning labels or lease agreements. They can’t supervise their children’s schoolwork. They can’t function in an environment that many of us take completely for granted.

And the fact that we’re not appalled is itself appalling.

Other countries take it more seriously. Today’s Shelf Awareness carried this tidbit of information: “I think that each book has its own soul; they know how much I love them,” bookseller Phan Trac Canh told Viet Nam News, adding that during his student years, his book obsession was a challenge. “I skipped breakfast so I could use the money to buy books. I sometimes even rummaged through rubbish bins looking for books.”

If many people in this country did that, they wouldn’t be able to read what they found there.

So I’m not going to be bright and chipper in today’s blog. I’m not going to say that all we have to do is open our hearts and everything will be wonderful. Part of opening our hearts is opening them to others, to take responsibility for ourselves and our communities, and to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to open their hearts as well.

No one can do it for you. Consider contributing to or volunteering with a literacy group today: 90 million people are waiting for you.

-Jeannette Cézanne
Open Your Heart with Reading