Through PNG Attitude I want to challenge my fellow citizens to become readers and writers.

This is because literature can shape Papua New Guinea more efficiently than politics and money.

PNG is a Christian country and the Bible says of books in Ecclesiastes 12:12 - “Of making many books there is no end”.

In this instance, King Solomon is talking about a time when books would be everywhere and books would outnumber the general populace.

He reached this conclusion because there is something powerful about books.

I love what William Ellery Channing wrote about the power and importance of books:

“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.

“God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages.

“Books are true levelers. They give to all who faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race.”

I want Papua New Guineans to write more books because books will last and they will impact and shape the future.

I wish our teachers would give the best books to students at the beginning of every academic year so they can read as well as learn things in the classroom.

I want to challenge my fellow Papua New Guineans to write because our literature will benefit and serve our country and inspire those who will become leaders.

Much of the time we read books written by foreign authors and the truth is that  they were mostly written in a context very different from ours as a developing nation.

But if a fellow national writes a book about how they’ve succeeded and managed things in life despite the odds, that will give us best advice to aim high and excel in life.

I wish someone would about how Justin Olam has reached the stars in rugby league. It’s books like this that will inspire our young people.

I wish someone would write a story about Jacob Luke, the entrepreneurial owner of Mapai Transport, that grew from one truck 1987 to become such an important corporation.

To write a book about Jacob Luke’s business principles would bless and encourage people to excel because not every young person can make it through the education system.

We need stories of the successful people in PNG, especially those who were once at the bottom but overcame life’s storms to get to the top.

I believe these kinds of books will impact PNG more than the political ploys of crooked leaders.

Members of Parliament should sponsor local writers to research and interview top people and produce books about their lives.

Napoleon Hill wrote books that influenced many people in America; books that shaped people’s lives for good and helped them to see the other side of failure.

Money will breed more culprits but books will produce people with knowledge who can better serve the nation with honesty and integrity.

Politics will bring more division in our country but books will bring wisdom and direction to people who want to serve PNG with conviction and purpose.

Books will enable us to become better communicators and will produce more effective leaders.

Books containing motivational stories about our national heroes can be circulated in great numbers to every school in the country.

Giving books to young students will shape them from an early age and at least, it will contribute to the wellbeing of this nation.

Today, Papua New Guinea is struggling against corruption and many of those trying to combat corruption are themselves corrupted.

To change the current generation of older people seems a lost cause but if we target younger people through books, I believe 30 or 50 years down the road PNG will be changed.

Books not only inform the mind but change people for the good.