A Love Letter to Libraries
My home away from home
Dear Libraries,
You changed my life.
As a kid, you were my sanctuary when my parents fought. I spent hours in your meeting rooms after-school playing Yu-Gi-Oh! with my friends. I was always on the computers, playing flash games on Miniclip and nonsensical adventure games like The Kingdom of Loathing.
Nothing was better than grabbing my pals, lining up in a row and playing games together. We hogged all the computers from the serious elementary students who were there to study.
I remember finding treasures hidden on your carpeted floors. Your colourful, shiny books sparked my curiosity. I remember Artemis Fowl, and the holographic, blue cover of book three. I remember the captivating His Dark Materials series. How Eragon was framed so regally. The magical promises of Inkheart. The mysterious adventures of The Thief Lord…
Every magical thought I have can be traced to your hallowed halls. Whether it was the fiction books I devoured every year, or the non-fiction books I’d flip through to explore culture and history… Every book changed my life.
I was lost in university.
I’m sorry for abandoning you.
The libraries at the University of Toronto were packed with people. In other words, endless hours of Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. I never went.
I’ve rekindled my love for you these last few years.
Toronto’s Public Library system is amazing. I can click-clack online and order books on demand. They’ll be delivered to my nearest library, and voila!
— It’s all free.
I’ve used your resources to help myself learn languages. Mango languages is available through the Toronto Public Library. It helped me learn Levantine Arabic and Latin American Spanish. I actually used some of that knowledge last year when I visited Colombia for the first time.
Thank you for opening my eyes to the world.
Now, I visit you once or twice a week. Sometimes I stop by just to use the washroom. You are one of the few remaining public spaces where there is something to do and no obligation to spend. For free, I can travel through cultures, time and space.
I hope you continue to light up lives the way you have lit up mine.
Love,
JJ
