Better to read

A few weeks ago I saw a publication on a social network, it had a quote that caught my attention, it was a bit strange and it was attributed to a text taken from one of my favorite books: "The Little Prince." It bothered me not to recognize that quote, not to remember it, despite having read the book many times. So I took the book and reread it very carefully to locate the quoted text, and I couldn't find it. In addition, both the message and the language seemed rather to be taken from those phrases that are invented "on the go" to get out of trouble.

In this regard, and not only making reference to literary but also historical texts, in a conference about native cultures, our brother Alfredo Mires mentioned other omissions and distortions that are becoming terrible errors and prevent us from knowing the truth of how events have happened. For example, he says:

Official history is full of shameful omissions, cowardly ambiguities, and hideous distortions.

But, in addition, these days, data like this circulates:

"Dear Sancho: I check with regret how palaces are occupied by gangsters and huts by wise men. I was never a defender of kings, but worse are those who deceive the people with tricks and lies, promising what they know they will never give them. Dear country, beloved Sancho, who dethrones kings and crowns pirates, thinking that the king's gold will be distributed among the people, without knowing that pirates only distribute among pirates.”

This is false: it is not in Cervantes's work: it is a hoax. [A hoax is “a falsehood deliberately articulated to be perceived as truth. The Anglicism hoax (farce), with which it is also known, became popular in Spanish by referring to massive deceptions by electronic means, especially the Internet ”(…)“ BULO = filth, a caló word  (calé, zincaló or Iberian Romani), language of the Spanish gypsies"].

One of my children also commented to me that, when reading books that have been taken to the cinema, he finds many differences, not only in reduction of content -which is understood in terms of time restrictions, but also in changes in the plot, in scenes and in other aspects that detract from the delight of the original texts. And it is always a shame to know of books that have so much to show and that are unknown because you only see what the movie chooses.

In our Rural Libraries of Cajamarca we always say that it is better to read the book before seeing the film. Here, we allow ourselves to be "tamed" (this word is written in "The Little Prince") by the books. And we want to continue "creating links" with that wonderful being that we can touch, peel, hug, read and reread as many times as possible. And this book-reader link is essential so as not to be fooled by the famous “hoaxes” on social networks, to know that data that the official history hides from us, and also to naturally imagine all the scenes that we can find on each page of a book which are impossible to make for any movie. Sometimes, when we hear comments such as "that book is very good, it deserves to be taken to the cinema, I hope a producer is encouraged", we think if it would not be better to say "I hope many people read it, before it is taken to the cinema."

Lola Paredes