America, does it discourage you....

.... To know that fewer and fewer people are reading these days? I say America because this is where I live; in a place where absolutely none of my peers pick up a book unless ordered to, where reading is to nerds as ham is to piglets, where a book during lunch is the equivalent of scowls and snickers and comments of how "dry" your life must be.

Prospective authors, does it doscourage you to know that most writers probably don't make it to nationwide publishing, and that even then the percentage of someone actually buying your book enough to make a profit is close to nill? Are you saddened when people would rather pick up a remote and watch television shows like Jersey Shore and Bad Girl's Club while snacking on cheetos and junk food for hours on end rather than picking up a novel and expending their experience of the world and discovering the depths of a creative imagination?

And do you get frustrated when you use a word like " condescending" or " dictation" in a high school setting, only to have people around you say things like:

" What's that mean?"
" Those words are too damn big."
" Stop trying to act smart."

I for one am tired of pretending reading and writing isn't as fun as it is, and I'm sick of people trying to sway me into thinking that being smart is the same as "showing off"
What's the problem today that people can't be bothered to try new things - or at least lay off the people actually attempting to delve deeper into their love for literature ( or anything else other than movies and games for that matter...)?

I know I'm not the only one that feels this way.
My peers' ignorance both frustrates me and, unfortunately, stunts my intellectual growth in many ways.