Old-timey books helped form me, and I am not ashamed of that!

I've been reading a lot about books -- books published, books for sale, books in libraries, and books recommended, especially for young people whose opinions and expectations are still being formed.

One thing I've noticed is that young people are not reading older books and are not being encouraged to do so. In many cases, these books are not available to them unless they dig, and they don't know they exist, so they can't do that.

My formative years were spent reading older books, and this helped form my (admittedly old-fashioned by today's standards) core beliefs about dating.

I'm not talking about fairy tales -- I'm talking about ordinary fiction. In the books I read, men kept themselves clean-living in the hopes of meeting a good woman someday and being a good choice for her. If he met her, he didn't overestimate his chances, because he knew she had the right to be selective. He would court her thoughtfully, respectfully, and honestly. He would take his time. His actions would match his intentions.

I could write a lot more about these books and the things they taught me. I feel that today's young people are simply not being given any examples to emulate. Old books are viewed as "boring" or "hard to read" or "out of touch." The idea of inculcating any kind of morals or good behavior through a book is looked at with horror. When it comes to selecting books, all you're supposed to prioritize is the diversity of the protagonists. Why not have both as priorities?

I also saw a story where a school library was purging anything written before 2008. To someone my age, 2008 is like five mintues ago. There are both good and bad books being written. Fifteen years is not long enough to figure out which ones are going to stand the test of time.