We Have a Place for You
Relax. Feel Safe. Breath
There’s was a moment I really liked, in the middle of our library’s book fair, where I looked over near the book box loading area to discover a dad and his maybe five year old kid, just sitting on the floor of the gymnasium, reading.
I mean, what better sums up literally everything we try to do at the library, or really any library?
Amid the chaos, the hundreds of people, the noise and uncomfortable surroundings, they decided to just plop down and read, their surroundings blocked out.
I don’t want to wax too philosophically about this, because it seems obvious enough that the primary goal of what we do - everyday - is provide a place, an atmosphere, a vibe, where anybody or anybodies, can just sit down and do exactly this.
And feel safe and at home doing it. Even if it’s not at the actual library. Even if they are surrounded by others. Even if it’s a hot day and the fans are barely keeping the place cool.
If you don’t feel comfortable with us, you are not going to just sit down, ignore the world and read. You just aren’t.
After a bit the two of them collected their pile of books and headed to the check out. I noticed that they put the book that they had finished reading back onto one of the tables. They had finished it. It was going to be somebody else’s now.
Anyway, I hope that the next time you need space and safety, that you’ll consider a library. Any one will do. My bet is that they’ll even let you sit on the floor!
This reminds me a bit of a story from when our guys (now almost 30 and 30+) were young. Our older son was clearly starting to read, but was resistant to demonstrate that. The grandparents were getting antsy because he was, if I recall, pushing 8 and still wasn't really observably reading (in their view). I took the guys to a big bookstore sale, and at some point came across both boys sitting in the aisle as the older one read a book - aloud - to his younger brother. It was a little book on giant octopuses, which was a topic he'd been fascinated by. It was like the floodgates opened, and suddenly he was undeniably a reader, and began to gobble up loads of books. As is often the case, his younger brother jumped on that bandwagon too. It's just a matter of the right time and the right book, I think...
I love it!