Public Libraries

"If you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need."

- Cicero


I love libraries! I drool through them, wanting to check out everything. I have a hard time passing up all my old favorites, and the local librarians laugh at me. There are so many good books out there!

Public Libraries are the epitome of freedom! Knowledge incites thought. Through access to knowledge, freedom becomes a possibility. As we continue to have access to knowledge, new ideas and understandings of freedom are born! Once an idea exists, people can always somehow find a way to manifest it. As Victor Hugo says, "There is nothing more powerfull than an idea whose time has come."

Public Libraries grant their users freedom to learn what they want, when they want. There are no age restrictions or rules about what on can or can't learn. One can choose to read or not to read about any subject in any order (or disorder). This is true freedom in learning.

I read thousands of dollars worth of books each year, that I could in no way afford on my own! Many public libraries even have things like inter-library loans, to make the pool of available knowledge even larger! Often libraries love to honor suggestions for books they should purchase. Some even offer classes or host museum exibits. All those to whom a public library is available, are truely blessed with the basic element of freedom.

Reading

"The man who does not read good books is no better than the man who can't."
- Mark Twain

Of all the things in the world, I think written words, the ability to read and write, contribute more to making knowledge available to all, than any other thing. Written words span time and space. We can contain in our heads the key to unlock meaning from them. No other tool is needed. They can survive when whole civilizations fall. If I had my choice between understanding spoken words, and understanding written words, I would not hesitate to choose written words. Knowing how to read gives us access to more knowledge than any other form of communication can. When I think back on my life, I realize that learning how to read was the absolute most pivitol thing that has happened to me. It, and everything that has happened, and that I have been able to do as a result - everything that I have learned - have made me who I am.