Reading aloud to another is gift of presence

By Elizabeth Scalia, OSV News

In Harper Lee’s classic novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” there is a point where Atticus Finch, seeking to teach his son about making reparation for damaging another’s property … orders his young son Jem to visit the bedside of sickly old Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose and read aloud to her.

Jem, naturally, doesn’t want to do it. He tells Atticus that inside the house is creepy in precisely the manner the mostly-empty house of a sick and elderly person can seem creepy to children. And Mrs. Dubose is “nasty” both of tongue and tremor. Nevertheless, Jem must continue to read to her for as long as Mrs. Dubose wishes.

We learn later that Jem’s reluctant service helped the mortally ill woman get through the misery of withdrawal from morphine, a patient addiction she wished to be free of, to depart from this life as much on her own terms as possible.

It can be a great service to a sick person – whether seriously ill or postoperative or simply down with the flu – to take the time to read aloud to them. Sickness often makes reading difficult. It can also make it taxing to keep up a flow of conversation with well-meaning visitors. Offering to read aloud to a patient can occupy their mind and help distract from their discomfort, and it can banish awkward silences. Moreover, reading to someone is a different way of saying to them, “I am present and here for you.”