Why Is Not Reading Cool?

You know...to live in the most literate country in the world, I run into the statement, "Oh, I don't read" WAY too often. Why is it cool not to read? Reading enriches your life. Give me a good book, and I'll never be bored. Give me an informative good book, and not only will I not be bored...I'LL LEARN SOMETHING! Heaven forbid I learn something when I don't have to, right?

My boss likes to laugh at me and call me a nerd and/or a geek. It's done in good fun, and it doesn't offend me in the slightest (I actually take pride in being a geek, though the word nerd does imply a certain lack of social graces that makes it not fit me well.) You know why? Because I read. I work nights at a hotel. Lots of spare time. I bring books to read, but I'll also look up something on Wikipedia, then take an interesting link from that article to read. From the new article I'll take another interesting link and so on, and so forth. I'll do this all night long. I learn a ton of stuff just passing the time. I find it odd that such practices should make me a stand-out from society.

What's my point? I don't have one. I just wanted to bitch about something. Didn't you read the paragraph at the top of the page? *8)

-Chris