Reading Sets You Free

With books we able to escape to any place at any time in history or the future. All it takes is a vivid imagination and the ability to read.

Take John, who was wrongly convicted of a crime and sentenced to three years in the state penitentiary. At his introduction to the prison system he was read the rules and warned about solitary confinement. John interrupted his prison guard and said he had two requests. He requested that he be confined to solitary confinement to protect him from the rest of the prisoners. Secondly, he requested that he would be allowed to keep his Kindle. The guard honored his requests and thus was John confined to solitary with only his Kindle for his companion.

For the next two years John sat in his cell with no human contact. Only once every 24 hours was he allowed outside for exercise and shower. The rest of the time he remained in his cell reading his Kindle and sleeping. It was via his Kindle that he was to escape the prison bars to all kind of exotic places both past and future.

At the end of two years his case was retried and new DNA evidence made him a free man. The government paid him a handsome sum for the inconvenience and he came out of prison a self educated man. In fact, he was more educated than if he had spent four years at a college.

John used his government payoff to purchase an RV and proceeded to live rent free in the Southwest. He spent part of the year taking some camp host job at various National Forest campgrounds. The remainder of the year he traveled around visiting our National Parks.

The secret to John's success began as a young toddler when his mother spent many hours reading to him. This instilled in him a love for books. And it was his love for books that permitted him to escape the prison bars for those two years.

Now with his many hours of leisure he still maintains his habit of reading on his Kindle. Only now instead of bare walls of a prison cell it is the surroundings of some National Forrest.