Well thought vs well read

We all have friends/family who somehow pressurise us to love reading, or simply make us feel low about not being someone who reads a lot or loves reading popular or the so-called intellectually stimulating texts/novels/books. Nothing against reading, it's superb and it truly is very beneficial. Just that don't make it sound like a necessity to lead a good life.

Here's my take on how a person who doesn't read much isn't missing out on anything.

I don’t particularly enjoy reading as much as I enjoy daydreaming. I am not the kind of guy who would read books whenever I find time; instead, I would spend my free time staring outside the window/the ceiling fan with some subject in mind or sometimes going completely blank/fantasy-world. Borderline psychopath, that is.

Some people think, I've been told, that the above is a colossal waste of time and that I should utilise that time to read some good books! Explore the works of the great (wo)men who walked this earth.

I would like to tell them that being well-read makes you knowledgeable but not clever, and it doesn’t guarantee a learned reply from you for an intriguing question, which (in my opinion) is a good evaluation criterion.

I’ve experienced that several well-read people give answers that are extremely difficult to understand and if you dissect their answer, that is, if you wade thru the-truck-loads-of-nonsense they affix to their answer, you’ll find that, their answer isn’t convincing at all.

And sometimes, the answer is just one of their best-guesses well coated in an umbrella of probabilities; just so that, they don’t seem utterly wrong when you Google the real answer. And yes, most of them speak really good English and use Shakespearean words that is just beyond us.

However, those who aren’t well-read tend to not answer the question as they don’t know about it or give a fair-and-square answer that is easy to understand.

Statistically speaking, most of my well-read friends don't judge me on not being well-read. I am not against the well-read folks. I’d like to grow into a well-read personality during my 40s if need be, but till then, I’d want to be a well thought out personality and read only if it comes to me naturally.

I am just trying to say that there are well thought out people who don't read much; and as I am one of them, if you too are my breed, there is absolutely no reason why we should get intimidated by not having read enough in their lives.

There, a simple answer! So, to all those who don’t like to read all the time. Let’s not even try to be well-read, let’s simply be well thought out!

Note: A well-thought person is one who thinks a lot about whatever one has read or heard about! By the way, I've used a term "well-thought person"...this might not even be a legit term in English.

It hasn’t made it to the dictionary yet, if it does someday, let the world know that it was coined by his exalted highness Girish Mahadevan, a well-thought Columnist.