By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu
The way We Live: If Knowledge Is Power, Why Have We Stopped Reading?
The first thing Daniel noticed on the morning bus was not the traffic. It was the old man sitting by the window with a thick, weather-beaten book resting comfortably on his lap.
Around him, every face seemed occupied. Some passengers laughed at short videos. Others hurried through headlines or argued with strangers on social media. Fingers moved endlessly across glowing screens, but the old man’s fingers moved only when it was time to turn another page.
Daniel watched him for several minutes before curiosity won.
“Sir,” he asked with a smile, “don’t you get tired of reading?”
The old man looked up, closed the book gently and returned the smile.
“My son, every time I open a book, I discover how little I know. That is enough to keep me turning the pages.”
A few passengers laughed quietly. Daniel laughed too, although he was not entirely sure why those words lingered with him long after he stepped off the bus.
Weeks later, Daniel attended a youth leadership programme where speakers encouraged young people to prepare themselves for tomorrow’s opportunities. During a break, he found himself sitting beside the same elderly man.
“You again?” Daniel said, surprised.
The old man chuckled.
“It seems our journeys keep crossing.”
Daniel smiled. “I’m glad they do.”
The old man stirred his cup of tea before asking, “You told me on the bus that books were no longer your thing. Tell me, what are you reading these days?”
Daniel held up his phone.
“Everything is here now. News, business, politics, motivation. I don’t think people really have time for books anymore.”
The old man nodded thoughtfully.
“There’s nothing wrong with reading on a screen,” he said. “The danger is when we stop reading deeply. Information arrives quickly. Wisdom takes time.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“But can books really make that much difference?”
“They already have,” the old man replied. “Harry S. Truman once said, ‘Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.’ He wasn’t praising books. He was reminding us that anyone who hopes to guide others must first be willing to learn from others.”
Daniel fell silent. The conversation refused to leave his mind.
A few days later, while helping his mother tidy an old cupboard, he found a carton that had belonged to his late father. Inside were books whose pages had faded with age. Some carried handwritten notes in the margins, others had newspaper cuttings tucked between chapters.
His mother smiled when she saw what had caught his attention.
“Those books travelled everywhere with your father,” she said. “He used to tell me that the richest people are not always those with the biggest houses. Sometimes they are the ones whose minds never stop growing.”
Daniel picked up one of the books and gently brushed away the dust. For the first time, he wondered what his father had discovered inside those pages that made him guard them so carefully.
The following Saturday, Daniel walked into a small neighbourhood bookshop. The familiar scent of old paper filled the room, and to his surprise, the old man from the bus was already there, browsing a shelf.
“I should have guessed I’d find you here,” Daniel laughed.
“And I hoped I would find you someday,” the old man replied.
They spent the next hour talking about books, history and the people whose ideas had shaped the world. At one point, Daniel picked up a biography of Elon Musk and flipped through it curiously.
“I know him,” Daniel said. “The billionaire who builds rockets.”
The old man smiled.
“Most people know the rockets. Fewer know the reader behind them.”
Daniel looked puzzled.
“I don’t understand.”
“Elon Musk has often said he tries to learn something new every day. When someone asked him how he learned enough about rockets to build a space company, his answer was surprisingly simple.”
The old man paused, allowing Daniel to guess.
“He said, ‘I read books.’”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“Surely it couldn’t be that simple.”
“It isn’t simple,” the old man replied. “Reading demands patience in a world that rewards speed. That’s why fewer people do it.”
He reached for another book and continued.
“Do you know why books remain powerful? Because they allow you to borrow another person’s lifetime without living it yourself. You can sit with scientists, philosophers, inventors, presidents and ordinary people whose experiences become your teachers.”
Daniel left the shop carrying only one book. It was not the most expensive book on the shelf, nor the thickest. But before he slept that night, he had read three chapters without once checking his phone.
The next evening he read again. Then again. Reading slowly became less of an obligation and more of a conversation he looked forward to.
Months passed. One rainy morning, Daniel boarded another bus on his way to work. As he searched for a seat, he noticed the familiar old man sitting quietly by the window with another well-loved book resting on his lap. Their eyes met, and both men smiled.
Without saying a word, Daniel reached into his backpack and pulled out the book he had been reading on his journey.
The old man glanced at the cover and nodded with quiet satisfaction.
“I see you’ve been busy.”
Daniel smiled.
“I finally realised something.”
“And what’s that?”
“I spent years chasing information because it was easy to find. I almost forgot that wisdom asks us to slow down.”
The old man closed his book for a moment.
“Frederick Douglass once said, ‘Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.’ I used to think he meant freedom from ignorance. Now I believe he also meant freedom from shallow thinking.”
The bus rolled through the city as rain tapped gently against the windows. Around them, phones continued to ring, videos continued to play and notifications continued to compete for attention.
But two generations sat quietly beside each other, each turning another page, each discovering something the world could never deliver in a fifteen-second clip.
Perhaps that is what we have forgotten. Most information reaches us in seconds. Understanding still arrives one page at a time.
One Thing Worth Remembering:
Knowledge does not become power because we collect information. It becomes power when we patiently read, understand and allow it to shape the way we live.
What about you?
What book has left a lasting mark on your life, or what book have you been meaning to read but never found the time to open? Perhaps today is the day your next chapter begins.
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