Readers are becoming increasingly rare. I “met” one recently through a second-hand book.

Years ago now, I bought a 86-page speciality instructional book in the consignment section of a specialty shop. For less than half the price of a new copy.

I still haven’t read it but, today, I set down to make the book ready for me to read. Does that sound pompous? I just mean that I was erasing the pencil marks that the previous reader left in it.

I began to get irritated at the previous reader. (Notice that at no time did I get irritated at my own insistence on reading the book without any markings left in it.) To do this well and leave no visible trace of the pencil marks, I was using a good quality eraser and taking my time not to wrinkle the paper.

Then I thought that irritation on my part was not behaviour that I should be encouraging. Heck, when I finally manage to make myself give away or sell books, I’m always short on time and low on mellow. There are scads of books to pass on to someone else. I should be capable of understanding why the seller didn’t have time to make her or his books in better shape to sell.

Today, at least, that wasn’t enough for my conscience. I tried to think of reason to be grateful to the seller instead of irritated:

  • Thank you for letting the book go so that I could read it.
  • Thank you for making your markings in pencil so that I could remove them. You didn’t use any highlighting markers or pens, just pencil.
  • Thank you for valuing the printed word and for being a reader.
  • Thank you joining with me in knowing that short books can contain considerable value information.

My day job as a technical writer has not, so far, included a lot of time when I remember to be grateful to the reader. I’ll try to do better. And I’d enjoy hearing you reasons for gratitude as both a reader and a writer.