How long would you wait to learn how to read? If you were 92 years old, you would probably say, “What’s the point in learning now?” But that’s exactly what Jim Henry did. When he heard the story of George Dawson, the son of slaves, who learned to read at the age of 98, Jim Henry decided that he could too. Although he experienced a four-year setback after his wife’s death, he ultimately pushed himself to learn how to read.
Today Jim is 98 years old, and he’s doing more than reading…now he’s writing. He just published his first book, In a Fisherman’s Language. The book recounts stories from Jim’s life and sold more than 800 copies in its first two weeks. The response has been overwhelming with orders for his book coming from all over the world.
So what have you always wanted to do but have put off week after week, month after month, and year after year. Maybe it’s not too late to learn after all. If Jim Henry could learn to read in his nineties, what might you learn to do at your age?
