Reflections #1: A Love Letter to Libraries

Libraries,

Like a loving partner, libraries have always been in our lives, never asking for much, never taking. Libraries exist as a portal to a realm of knowledge, surrounding you with vast subjects that stretch beyond a limited world view. Libraries contain stories, told from the hearts of an artist pounding away on an empty page, unsure if they’ll even attract readers; stories that take you from here to Morocco, from Morocco to space, from space to infinite universes and galaxies. And they never ask you for more than your time.

I abandoned libraries after I left high school. Reading was for nerds and I had enough of it to do in college. I bathed in ignorance and washed my hair with fuckery. I never bothered expanding my mind and my interests because why do that when you can pretend to be one of the popular kids and get wild and sad? What could a library offer me that 140 characters on Twitter couldn’t?

I walked into our public library semi-recently and was astounded by it. It’s not that the book selection is off the chain, it’s not that I morphed into a male version of Matilda and started carrying books in a wagon. It was that I had the choice. I had the choice to reflect on myself and see if there was a better and smarter human beneath the layers of dumbass.

This may seem simple, everyone knows what a library is. But to fully realize the capacities and capabilities libraries hold in their publicly funded buildings, and the opportunities of entering any world or subject you could imagine, was overwhelming. How did the past version of me that loved libraries abandon them for so long? How did I spend so much time away from the library that coming back to it was a “come to Jesus” moment? Maybe I’m an idiot. Well, duh.

But I have the choice to shed that. Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card. Shout out Arthur and every other Aardvark for life.

My current reading list for those interested:

• Hardball by Daniel Coyle
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
• The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
• Original Gangstas by Ben Westhoff