A New Acquaintance

Last Saturday I knew Renan. He is a friend of my sons. I think he is in his late teens or early 20s.

I was with them to help with their English, which is unfortunately as poor as that of all those who, like them, don't like to read.

In fact, reading is something my sons scarcely ever do, and not at any rate in English or any foreign language. We had already spent a whole afternoon just talking and finally I got them to get started on a multilingual website I had already recommended many times before and as expected they forgot to read. The text I chose for them was about reading habits of young people the world over.

Then a friend of them came. He talked to me in fluent English, which was a very positive surprise for me. He is on the whole self-taught. What a fine example! An absolutely normal youngster who is also interested in studying, in reading, in learning things. He can also play the guitar. Again, a skill acquired just with personal effort. No classes, no teacher. With all this, he earned my unqualified admiration.

I got his e-mail and sent him the link for this blog. I guess he will eventually read. My sons never read spontaneously anything I write, even the stuff I write in Portuguese, let alone this blog, which I write in English. I love my sons as much as a father can, but I can't help feeling very sorry for their intellectual laziness.

During the session we had in order to strengthen their English, two other friends of them appeared. They tried to drive my kids attention away from the reading, and almost managed to spoil it. I was about to tell them off with all the necessary energy, but luckily they gave up their stupid behavior before I did. Thank God!

It is with this kind of friends that my sons spend much of their time. What a waste! This explains, in part, why they can't get better results in their capacity of students. Their grades are not something they can be proud of. They simply don’t care for being outstanding students, and no reward, no example, nothing seems to motivate them to make necessary effort. Most of those with whom they interact on a daily basis choose the same action avoidance. Reading is a habit which obviously has no room in their lives.

By contrast, the inconvenient 'contribution' from the two other boys during the reading my sons were doing half-heartedly only led me to think even better of Renan, whose respectful participation did help a lot and gave me a feeling that everything is not lost.