Keep it Simple: Fiction readers as kindly old souls?
On Friday afternoons in elementary school, I always felt like a bit of heaven had come down to earth and rescued me from my humdrum little kid life. Not because it was almost the weekend but it was the day at Della Lutes Elementary School where each class; walking in a quiet and orderly single-file line, was allowed access to the library for the purpose of choosing a book for free reading. Slice of heaven indeed.
In the fifth grade, I had stumbled upon a series of chapter books that were thinly disguised American histories depicting accounts and accomplishments of famous and semi-famous Americans. I still have a vivid recollection of the frontiersman Kit Carson as he and other adventurers blazed their way into the history books back in the 1800s. These nonfiction accounts, which lent themselves more to fictionalized biographies of our historical figures, included the likes of inventors Thomas Edison and George Washington Carver, auto tycoon Henry Ford, the aviator Amelia Earhart and many more. I gobbled them up like candy from a Pez dispenser, usually finishing the final chapter from each book sometime early Saturday morning in the family room over a bowl of cornflakes and the onslaught of network cartoons popular at the time.
If I hadn’t already been hooked on reading, those weekly library visits certainly cemented in place my love of books and made me the lifelong reader I remain to this day.
A recent article by Lachlan Brown makes the case that folks who grew up reading a lot of fiction share a number of unique traits including possessing a heightened sense of empathy compared to nonfiction readers or folks who did not read or read very little.
Brown says fiction readers are, in general, fairly empathetic of others, due to their feeling the joys and sorrows of the fictional characters they come in contact with within the parameters of a novel’s plot. He maintains this close relationship with those characters is an “immersive experience (which) often translates into real-life emotional intelligence.”
I can accept his logic and feel it may be true from my own reading experiences and how I seem to be able to better tap into how those around me are feeling emotionally. I think it made me and those with strong fiction reading backgrounds better able to understand and connect with a variety of people. Reading fiction, it seems, cranks out kindly old souls and in turn makes the world a better place to inhabit.
With that said I’d be willing to place a large wager that former President Trump has never in his life read a book, let alone a work of fiction. Trump personifies the stereotypical individual lacking in any sort of empathy or warmth towards his fellow man and represents the number one reason why he should never serve in public office again - he only cares about one thing in life — himself.
An individual with not a shred of empathy towards others has no business in politics and Trump personifies this to a tee.
But, being the empathetic, fiction-reading kindly old soul Brown considers me to be, I can empathize with the void Trump must feel in his life because of his pathological narcissistic tendencies and who can trust no one and cares only about his own feelings.
It’s too bad he is incapable of understanding how much his personality is damaging not just other people, but more importantly himself. It must be a horrible way to go through life being incapable of maintaining any lasting relationships; seeing as his only reason for getting close to anyone must be his desire to use them for his own selfish concerns to push his personal agenda for power and wealth.
Trump should withdraw from the world of politics until at such a time he can receive the mental health treatment he so desperately needs to become a better person and then, and only then, consider if he has the skills for a return to politics. Reading a few works of fiction wouldn’t hurt during his recovery. “Like that’s ever going to happen,” the non-empathetic side of me thinks.
Trump is, if anything, the antithesis of a kindly old soul and what this country needs now more than anything is less Trump-like behaviors and more empathetic and caring people; especially in the arena of politics.
So pick up a copy of “Catcher in the Rye,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” or Steinbeck’s “East of Eden,” send a copy to Mr. Trump and get on the empathy train. All aboard.
— Michael Jones is a columnist and contributor for the Gaylord Herald Times. He can be reached at mfomike2@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Keep it Simple: Fiction readers as kindly old souls?
