How sad....

Today made me realize how truly important literacy is. I guess I didn't really know how many people, I mean working adults, could not read or write. Today, I was given a taste of that. I find it sad that grown folks, people who have held a job for the last 35 years, were completely illiterate.

More than once today I was asked for help. And more than once I witnessed the pre-kindergarten writing provided for a signature. I know that in the area I'm in it shouldn't be surprising. These folks had to leave school in order to support their families. Some of them were not afforded the priviledge of school ever in their life. I really felt sorry for them, because you could see the humiliation in their eyes. And I know they've given up on learning. They've given up because in the beginning it wasn't needed, in the middle it was pride, and now at the end, its just age. They feel they are too old for it to matter.

I fear this is going to be the case again in future generations. As computers take over, more and more children They barely know how to spell, so I'm sure actual writing is soon to be gone, too. How sad.