Money all the way through; I would love to have students keep the first and last paragraphs and then rewrite the middle paragraphs based on the novels, stories, and poems they’ve read.

Last paragraph:

So reading is not merely a diversion or distraction from present pain; it is also an enlarging of our universe, our sympathies, wisdom and experience. The act of entering into the consciousness of another being, another sex, or sexual preference, social group, political outlook or religious persuasion, allows a respite from private and parochial preoccupations. That widening of our concerns may entail entering another location, or period in history – or an arena of which we would otherwise be ignorant. Education, as people are never tired of repeating, is a process of leading out, which suggests another benefit: that in being led by reading into previously unknown territory, we learn.

Source: “Move over Freud: Literary Fiction Is the Best Therapy.” The Guardian, November 26, 2016, sec. Books. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/26/move-over-freud-literary-fiction-is-the-best-therapy.