“Teacher, I’ve read so many books… but I’ve forgotten most of them. So what’s the point of reading?”
That was the question of a curious student to his Master. The teacher didn’t answer. He just looked at him in silence.
A few days later, they were sitting by a river, suddenly, the old man said:
“I’m thirsty. Bring me some water… but use that old strainer lying there on the ground.”
The student looked confused. It was a ridiculous request. How could anyone bring water in a strainer full of holes?
But he didn’t dare argue.
He picked up the strainer and tried.
Once. Twice. Over and over again…
He ran faster, angled it differently, even tried covering holes with his fingers. Nothing worked. He couldn’t hold a single drop.
Exhausted and frustrated, he dropped the strainer at the teacher’s feet and said:
“I’m sorry. I failed. It was impossible.”
The teacher looked at him kindly and said:
“You didn’t fail. Look at the strainer.”
The student glanced down… and noticed something.
The old, dark, dirty strainer was now shining clean. The water, though it never stayed, had washed it over and over until it gleamed.
The teacher continued:
“That’s what reading does. It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember every detail. It doesn’t matter if the knowledge seems to slip through, like water through a strainer…
Because while you read, your mind is refreshed.
Your spirit is renewed.
Your ideas are oxygenated.
And even if you don’t notice it right away, you’re being transformed from the inside out.”
That’s the true purpose of reading.
Not to fill your memory…
but to cleanse and enrich your soul.
