Has a loved one ever told such a good story that you suggested selling the movie rights? I’ve heard some wonderful stories about my family. That inspired me to draw and write this cartoon.
One of my fondest memories of my father-in-law was when we would drive all night to Florida. He would tell me stories about his childhood, his ancestors, and the lessons he learned through life’s struggles to keep us awake.
I love books. And most likely, if a search engine brought you here, you do too. I thought about what it would be like if a book wanted that same love back and came up with this bibliophile cartoon.
Some amazing things happen when bibliophiles unite.
Abraham Lincoln was born 213 years ago today. He was a man that knew the power of books. I like this quote from him.
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new at all.”
Abraham Lincoln Quotes. BrainyQuote.com, BrainyMedia Inc, 2022. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/abraham_lincoln_100002, accessed February 12, 2022.
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was a man that valued books so much, he would walk for miles across the Indiana countryside to borrow and return them. Though his formal education was spotty, his love for reading gave him an education far beyond his backwoods upbringing.
In today’s connected world, we have no problem finding information. Rather, our challenge is sifting the wheat from the chaff. Our temptation is to only find the information we agree with, instead of a bit of knowledge that challenges us.
In Lincoln’s time, books showed that original ideas weren’t all that original. In today’s world, we can find any information to justify our thoughts. It doesn’t have to be edited or traditionally published to go out to millions. Do we forget what incredible power exists on our phones and desktops?
We like the comfort of the echo chamber. Most of us cringe when we find information that doesn’t agree with our worldview. However, do we grow if we only read, hear or view what we agree with? Are we doing ourselves a disservice when we don’t challenge our thoughts?
Today, printed books are still important partly because it still takes effort to publish something on paper. It gives it a physical presence that electronic media doesn’t have. Sure, we can print a blog or social media post. But how many of us actually do that? (If you dare to challenge me and print out this blog post, I’m fine with that!)
There may be a day I take my blog posts and organize them into a book. When that happens, there will be a better chance a future generation will read what I wrote. But if it stays only on the Internet, would it still live on? If I pass on tomorrow and no one chooses to pay for this site, it could disappear like a vapor.
Books are still valuable to educate, instruct and challenge us. Let’s get out of our echo chamber, crack open a good tome, and get acquainted again with the power of books.
There will be some challenges and problems. Have you noticed that? They especially like to show up on a Monday morning. But if we want to get anywhere, we have to stop making excuses. A quote by George Washington Carver reminds me that finding blame is nothing more than a bad habit.
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”
George Washington Carver Quotes. BrainyQuote.com, BrainyMedia Inc, 2022. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/george_washington_carver_158549, accessed January 10, 2022.
George Washington Carver
A while back, I read a book entitled, QBQ: The Question Behind the Question. The premise of the book is when we face a challenge, the questions we ask ourselves determines whether we take personal accountability or not.
Do we play the victim, or do we make things better? Is it possible a bad habit of making excuses drags us into a victim and entitlement mindset? I say the answer is yes.
We can choose to succeed by ditching the excuses. It starts with the questions we ask ourselves when we face a challenge. And the questions we ask can be a habit. Let’s do what we can today to make a positive impact instead of playing the blame game.
How would you like to be the kid in this cartoon? Dads can be clueless, can’t they? He may be surprised to discover his find doesn’t have a way to connect to the Internet. It would be a nice machine for someone looking for a trip back in time. But it wouldn’t be very practical for today’s computer needs. The father had not considered what his son truly needs.
This cartoon was for a book I illustrated entitled New Rider’s Official Internet Pages. It seems silly today, but at the time, a book about how to find what you were looking for on the Web was a good idea. Search engines were still a bit clunky. Google wouldn’t exist for another three years. So why not use a paper book to search on the Web? Today, that book is about as cutting-edge as a Commodore 64 computer.
You can still buy Commodore 64’s. E-bay has plenty of them for sale. While they don’t cost as much as when they were new, they still appear to cost as much as a new tablet or laptop. Today, you wouldn’t buy one for its power, but for nostalgia.
We can get stuck in thinking we know what the solution is when it isn’t appropriate. Old technology won’t work for today’s students. Yet, someone with an eye for eighties technology would love it. When considering a solution, be sure you know your audience. You want someone to be surprised in a good way.
In the meantime, who wants to play Ace of Aces on an old Commodore 64?
