From the Founders: One Reason Why Jordan Reads

If I am lucky, I’ll live to be about 75 years old. At that time, even if I travel the world and meet new people, I can still only comprehend one way of life: my own. We all only live once in the mind and body we inherit and train. However, if there is a window into other ways of life, to experience what it’s like to be another person, to live in a different place, and to understand reality with foreign beliefs, I believe books are that window. Through books, I can see the world through the author's lens, through his or her naked being. I can feel the world as they felt, see as they saw, hear as they heard, and believe as they believed.

If we, the human race, are ever to overcome provincial thinking such as racism and jingoism, then we must read more and dive into the depths beyond our own. How did the Afghans feel when America occupied Kabul? How did the black children of the American South feel during Reconstruction? I don’t know, but with books, I can hope to try. In that attempt, I think I may become a better citizen, one who focuses more on the people and less on the self.

-Jordan Clark, YCS Cofounder