Reading is one way to close that distance. It gives us a quiet universe that we can share together, that we can share in equally.
You're probably wondering now what happened to Patrick.
Did reading save his life? It did and it didn't.
When Patrick got out of prison, his journey was excruciating.
Employers turned him away because of his record, his best friend, his mother, died at age 43 from heart disease and diabetes.
He's been homeless, he's been hungry.
So people say a lot of things about reading that feel exaggerated to me. Being literate didn't stop him form being discriminated against. It didn't stop his mother from dying. So what can reading do?
I have a few answers to end with today.
Reading charged his inner life with mystery, with imagination, with beauty.
Reading gave him images that gave him joy: mountain, ocean, deer, frost.