Day 20: A Story Without Words
Today I find myself sitting in the school library. Not a usual hide out of mine but given the circumstances of the situation I am seeking refuge here. The class I am the teacher's aide for has a substitute, therefore leaving me without anything to do. It's actually really peaceful here in the library. I have never taken advantage of it before. Of all my days here at school never a once have I voluntarily come here. It's strange because on TV all of the time you see the students constantly going to and coming from the library. When you think about libraries as a whole they are kind of underrated. Our world today is overcome with an endless amount of technology that could very well replace our libraries. You have almost every possible book on a digital format so why would you want to take the time to make a trip to the public library? The process of checking out a book is kind of a daunting task in my opinion. You have to search either physically or electronically for the book through countless aisles/ pages of results. Once you find the book- if it's not on hold- you proceed to make your way to the check out counter. You have to be a library card holder which is a big responsibility in and with itself because who keeps up with their library card? You use that sucker once every 3 years and by the time you need it, it has vanished or needs to be reissued. Once this part of the process is over, the less than cheerful librarian will tell you with a scowl that you owe some crazy amount like $5 in fees. How in the heck does one owe that to a library that you maybe have visited 5 times in their whole life? Well, what libraries (or at least our public libraries) don't tell you is that if you don't pick up the book once it is off hold then they will start charging you for you lack of ambition on doing so. Crazy right? So you pay the fees, get your book and pray to God that you remember to return it on time.
Although there are many stipulations when it comes to the tangible flipping of the pages, there's something special about having the book in your hands. The touching of the worn edges and the scent that really old books give off. It's kind of magical really. Or at least I think so. I can't remember the last time I have checked out a book. Normally I just buy it off Amazon or download it to my kindle app. There's so much more worth into checking out a book. It kind of reminds me of my childhood which is something I am sure of that we all miss dearly. It's simple because at that time in our lives we didn't have the responsibilities placed on us when it comes to the process of going to library.
If any of you readers have seen the Sex and the City movie (another great one that I can recommend to my older audience) then you can understand the parallel between this and Carrie Bradshaw. In the movie there is a scene where her and Mr. Big are talking about why she goes to the library to check out books. Here is a snapshot from the scene.
I guess that I kind of avoided today's prompt. I cannot help it. I guess that I also told a story all about words rather than a without them. I love reading and writing. Why would I ever want to rid myself of them?
