There are many avenues under attack, of which libraries are an important one. Thinking, and the ability to think is very dangerous to those who want to tell you what to think. Unfortunately, with all the stress bombarding us every day and the increasing difficulty in distinguishing facts from fiction it is a growing temptation to just sit down and let them win.
We can’t let that happen. It doesn’t just affect us. It affects the future.
I got into a heated discussion with someone over libraries at, of all places, a Wal-Mart near me. I was talking about going to the library on my way home, and this guy jumped in and said "We don't need libraries any more. Everything is available on the internet."
And got all irritated and nasty when I asked him how many hardcover books were available for checkout on the internet. I still like to sit down with a hardcover book and read it. I have a couple of very old books (from the early 1900s) by Rudyard Kipling, that have a faint scent of patchouli when I open them. It's intoxicating.
My late wife, bless her heart, used to take her White Shoulders scent, and paint a stripe on the inside front cover of all of the hardcover books I bought for her. I gifted some of them to my granddaughter, who recently told me that sometimes she likes to just open the books just to feel her gramma's presence.
You can't do that online. And when I downsized, I donated a large number of both my books and my late wife's books to the local library. Even if they decided they don't need them, and want to sell them, that's fine. At least the books will find a good home, and then they might have funds to keep on going.
Sometimes when I pick up my grandson from school he'll say, "Can we go to the library on the way home?" "Of course," I say. Even though we both have stacks of books at our respective homes, there's something about the library that pulls us in. I feel sorry for people who don't see the library for the wondrous place it is.
Closing libraries or reducing the hours they are open is horrendous. Government funding is being piled into all the wrong places.
As a child, I spent hours in my local library and always bought an armful of books home. Someone in the family would take me and then come back in an hour or so. From the age of 7, I was allowed to go there myself (this was in the 1970’s).
I then began to use the main library in the city centre, first with a parent or sibling but as they realised I want to spend hours there, they would take me and leave me with strict instructions to be home at a certain time (I was always late)
When my daughter was small we would spend hours in the local library, at first reading to her and then she would sit surrounded by books to look at. We would go home with books, audio books and videos.
My daughter could read before she went to school and like me, has a lifetime love of reading.
“Bankrupt in Spirit” was a perfect way to discredit those who defund libraries! A treasure trove of wondrous adventures, quiet moments, warmth and comfort is in all libraries. Hidden secrets from the past, bright outlooks to the future is inside every resource a library offers to all. There is no other feeling than holding a book in hand and reading non-fiction facts, great creative non-fiction stories, novels and oh so much more between those pages. Microfilms of research from old no longer published newspapers with every genre and/or stories and even obituaries. The one I had between my home and my high school still exists for now. The Grand Army Plaza library in Brooklyn NY is magnificent and was often a refuge for me for homework and research. I can still picture it vividly as I walked through its doors 60 years ago and each time I was taken aback by its elegance. Its’ catalogue files and magnificent high up wooden shelves of books from almost the ceiling to the floors. We need libraries to remain funded they give us connections to humanity like nothing else in this world. Thank you for bringing this important cause to our attention!
Even if you have every streaming service, there's a whole bunch of stuff that's not streaming anywhere, and your best chance of seeing it is checking if your library has a physical copy. As some random examples, mine has The Boy and The Beast, Belladonna of Sadness, and Adam West's Batman. That's reason to keep libraries around enough on its own.
A very good article, Matt. This is what I found especially true: "Because a country that keeps cutting funding to libraries isn’t broke. It’s bankrupt in spirit." Sadly, yes. Love, Maria
There are many avenues under attack, of which libraries are an important one. Thinking, and the ability to think is very dangerous to those who want to tell you what to think. Unfortunately, with all the stress bombarding us every day and the increasing difficulty in distinguishing facts from fiction it is a growing temptation to just sit down and let them win.
We can’t let that happen. It doesn’t just affect us. It affects the future.
I got into a heated discussion with someone over libraries at, of all places, a Wal-Mart near me. I was talking about going to the library on my way home, and this guy jumped in and said "We don't need libraries any more. Everything is available on the internet."
And got all irritated and nasty when I asked him how many hardcover books were available for checkout on the internet. I still like to sit down with a hardcover book and read it. I have a couple of very old books (from the early 1900s) by Rudyard Kipling, that have a faint scent of patchouli when I open them. It's intoxicating.
My late wife, bless her heart, used to take her White Shoulders scent, and paint a stripe on the inside front cover of all of the hardcover books I bought for her. I gifted some of them to my granddaughter, who recently told me that sometimes she likes to just open the books just to feel her gramma's presence.
You can't do that online. And when I downsized, I donated a large number of both my books and my late wife's books to the local library. Even if they decided they don't need them, and want to sell them, that's fine. At least the books will find a good home, and then they might have funds to keep on going.
Sometimes when I pick up my grandson from school he'll say, "Can we go to the library on the way home?" "Of course," I say. Even though we both have stacks of books at our respective homes, there's something about the library that pulls us in. I feel sorry for people who don't see the library for the wondrous place it is.
Closing libraries or reducing the hours they are open is horrendous. Government funding is being piled into all the wrong places.
As a child, I spent hours in my local library and always bought an armful of books home. Someone in the family would take me and then come back in an hour or so. From the age of 7, I was allowed to go there myself (this was in the 1970’s).
I then began to use the main library in the city centre, first with a parent or sibling but as they realised I want to spend hours there, they would take me and leave me with strict instructions to be home at a certain time (I was always late)
When my daughter was small we would spend hours in the local library, at first reading to her and then she would sit surrounded by books to look at. We would go home with books, audio books and videos.
My daughter could read before she went to school and like me, has a lifetime love of reading.
“Bankrupt in Spirit” was a perfect way to discredit those who defund libraries! A treasure trove of wondrous adventures, quiet moments, warmth and comfort is in all libraries. Hidden secrets from the past, bright outlooks to the future is inside every resource a library offers to all. There is no other feeling than holding a book in hand and reading non-fiction facts, great creative non-fiction stories, novels and oh so much more between those pages. Microfilms of research from old no longer published newspapers with every genre and/or stories and even obituaries. The one I had between my home and my high school still exists for now. The Grand Army Plaza library in Brooklyn NY is magnificent and was often a refuge for me for homework and research. I can still picture it vividly as I walked through its doors 60 years ago and each time I was taken aback by its elegance. Its’ catalogue files and magnificent high up wooden shelves of books from almost the ceiling to the floors. We need libraries to remain funded they give us connections to humanity like nothing else in this world. Thank you for bringing this important cause to our attention!
Even if you have every streaming service, there's a whole bunch of stuff that's not streaming anywhere, and your best chance of seeing it is checking if your library has a physical copy. As some random examples, mine has The Boy and The Beast, Belladonna of Sadness, and Adam West's Batman. That's reason to keep libraries around enough on its own.
A very good article, Matt. This is what I found especially true: "Because a country that keeps cutting funding to libraries isn’t broke. It’s bankrupt in spirit." Sadly, yes. Love, Maria