Rich Guy, Poor Guy

We judge the richness of a man by the wealth he possesses; by the size of the car he drives & by the space that he gets in social circle. No doubt, wealth is an important criterion to know how successful a man is but it is not the only one. We can call a man wealthy only if he knows how to spend what he has earned. People spend half of their life earning wealth & rest half in learning how to spend it. It is primarily because they only earn knowledge, not wisdom in the initial years of their life. They collect knowledge because they think this is the only way to get a degree & a plush job. And most of the people land a job & start earning for a living. But that is only the beginning of the trouble they face all through their life. They don't enjoy life; they only pass it & the primary reason for not living the life is not understanding it. Their poor understanding of life has much to do with their habits in early childhood.

Few years back the first exposure of a child used to be the tales by granny or story books. It gradually changed to comics & since the last decade or so TV has become the only exposure that a child has in his formative years. There is no doubt that one of the major distractions for today's child is an idiot box & major challenge for parents is to control the TV watching habit of the child. Kids & teens 8 to 18 years spend almost 4 hours a day watching TV & nearly 2 additional hours on computer. First four years of a child's life are very crucial for his brain development. TV affects the development by interfering in the natural growth of the child as it siphons off the all-important interaction time of child with his siblings & parents. It also influences him negatively by exposing him to scenes not fit for his age. As he grows up, it interferes with his physical activity & his reading habits.    

                "A book commits suicide every time you watch a reality show."- Laini Taylor

On the contrary, a book moulds the child's life; it gives him direction & helps in the all-round development of the child. It makes him creative, imaginative & improves his cognitive skills. Major challenge parents face today is that a book is not as fascinating as an idiot box is. TV takes them to the land of fantasy & sells them false idea of living the life & they imitate what they see on it. It robs them of their innocence & they start living in penury. When they grow up they might sound & look rich & wealthy, but they are very poor creatively, culturally & philosophically.
                  "A room without books is like a body without a soul." - Marcus Cicero 
The ultimate richness of a person can be gauged only by the richness of his soul & one can always guess what forms a rich soul. While TV might groom our external appearance, books teach us how to dress-up our mind, body & soul.