One for the Books

Thursday, 04 August 2011 05:36

Written by Louie C. Montemar

Last June, one lawmaker has noted that even with the procurement of 21.7 million textbooks this year, public schools will still be needing 66.6 million more at a cost of P3.65 billion. As some are talking of e-books and similar more modern education-related technologies, many of our schoolchildren can only dream of the traditional tomes.

Yesterday, I just heard that the Department of Education (DepEd) is having some difficulty in book procurement to address the current shortage. The problem is not merely financial it seems. I will try to look more into this but, for now, let me just offer some reflections on the importance of books. Perhaps these may rekindle in some of us that quaint passion for books and reading...

I think that the true Homo Sapiens Sapiens should have a ready answer to the question: What is your favorite book and why?

In Antiquity, the truly learned and wizened were those sharpened by experience and tempered by age. Teachers were most revered and the lineage of scholarship was established through face-to-face interaction or learning through verbal discourse. For instance, Socrates, the teacher, discussed with Plato, the student; as Plato, the teacher, discussed with his students, Aristotle among them. Aristotle in turn taught the young Alexander the Great, who was... etc, etc... and so we now still remember the Greeks and their trailblazing cerebral explorations.

For society to be able to pass on and process the vast amounts of knowledge and wisdom that is generated especially through academic exercise in the formal education system, a deceptively simple technology had to be invented alongside the school system — the BOOK.

Plato indeed had to write what he learned and developed from his wise teacher Socrates who, for some reason, opted not to write down his thoughts. Without the “books” of the erudite student Plato, Socrates' ideas could not have survived two millennia of human history.

Had Plato not put in writing the dialogues that presumably involved Socrates, we may have had a Western world now less rich in political philosophy and practice. Moreover, much of formal Greek knowledge would have most certainly vanished from the face of the earth had they not been kept on record and passed on to later generations through tomes collected by the sages of the Arab world.

Without books, we wouldn't be where we are today. We wouldn't know where we were and what we have done thus far on this planet. And we wouldn't be as empowered to chart where we want to go.

Books are our indelible mark as magnificent, reflective, self-conscious but humbly material beings on Terra. Books are who we are as a species. Books signify our sentience. Books are gems that crystallize our creativity and wisdom as peoples of various cultures. Books are also instruments of power and liberation.

But books are also a tapestry of melodies — the music of our dreams, fantasies, and aspirations. Books are, to my minds eye, a kaleidescope pointed at the colorful depths of the human soul and it dares us to peer into it. Books are us.

The printed word is power incarnate. The printed word is the sign of humanity's dominance in this planet, in this part of the, thus far, only universe known to harbor sentience — or some form of it (we would like to believe).

Homo sapiens sapiens — the scientific name that we have given ourselves as a species, literally means “Wise, wise man.” Think about it: we would never be “sapiens” without the Book. The Book or The Printed Word should be the single most important cultural marker that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Scientists used to think that we were the only kind of animal that purposively killed its own kind in wars or some form of violent social interaction. But then they observed chimpanzees killing their own kind and conducting some form of war.

Some have even offered that we stand apart from animals because we use the spoken language and tools. But then even some birds could “talk” and even more intelligent avians like the crow (yes, that poor hated and demonized uwak!) are sophisticated enough that they are able to use tools to gather food and feed themselves.

However, no animal, except (Wo)Man can write. Books, especially, make us stand above all other denizens Kingdom Animalia. We are animals with an “Animo” — Spirit or Life, the Life-Spirit. We are not merely alive, we are conscious of being alive! And the vessel that that spirit takes so that humanity may be improved through the ages is the Book.
Books are vessels which carry the heady wines known as knowledge, skills and values. Our teachers — purportedly among the wisest people of modern society — are the wine makers or wine bearers, and they are among the most honored guests in the bacchanalia of brains that is formal education.

Today, as books have become more prominent markers and vessels of human knowledge and wisdom, we can perhaps more easily identify a learned person by indeed asking the question: What is your favorite book and why?

Come to think of it, beyond the DepEd and its book shortages, perhaps it is high time we remind our political leaders to look into our public libraries, even as the e-book is on the rise. How is our public library system? Yes, we do have public libraries, don’t we? And oh, there is a National Book Development Board. Perhaps one article for this soon... In the meantime, find a good book, and have a good read!

Oh, by the way, as I write this line, Miguel Zubiri declares his resignation from the Senate and Senate President Enrile admits that he is already 87 years old. That’s one, and two, for the books!

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