Our brains want comfort and stability. But there will be no stability (if you’re lucky enough to still feel it) if we do not disrupt our comfort and push back.

And if we haven’t developed our imagination and empathy muscles through the lifelong practice of reading, then we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past because we can’t fathom how awful the repercussions of those mistakes were.

If we didn’t live through it, our brains just can’t imagine it. (Even this, your brain is asking “how bad can it really be?”)

And if the media is largely controlled by the regime, or playing to its favor to try to earn brownie points, then the ones at the top levels of government get to dictate our narrative to drive choices they want us to make.

If adults can’t read and if those who can are restricted from accessing information through various actions that repress access to information, like book bans or shuttering organizations that house and distribute up-to-date information about heath, law, history, etc…

Did you know that 54% of adults in the US read below a 6th-grade level and approximately 50% of Americans read so poorly that they are unable to perform simple tasks such as reading prescription drug labels (www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literac...)?

As fewer people remain who lived through it, and fewer of the people who didn’t live through it attempt to imagine it by reading about it, there are fewer voices to be loud enough to help everyone remember. And other voices become louder by comparison.

It’s as difficult to imagine a new color as it is to imagine a life before the polio vaccine, for one of many possible, relevant examples.