The group of teens chatting and laughing on the couchs.
The older woman who glares at the group of teens.
The 5 year old boy who doesn't understand the phrase, 'inside voice'.
Countless others milling about perusing the books on display.
There's so many different sorts of people at a public library, which is one of the countless reasons why I love them so much. Generally, everyone keeps to themselves, wandering the aisles or flipping through books. And in a world of constant noise and movement, I think people crave the hushed calm of the library. When I walk into a library, and the sound of my shoes squeaking on the floor suddenly becomes deafening to me, there's an instant connection I feel with my fellow patrons. It's the same feeling I get when I ride public transit. Even though we may have different backgrounds and values and we may even be coming to the library for completely different reasons, for a brief window of time, we are part of a small community of people, quietly living their lives together.
I never feel that connection stronger than when I borrow library books.
A few weeks ago, I borrowed a book from the library that I heard about years ago called 'Letters To A Young Poet'. The book is, in fact that, letters to a young poet. A fledging poet had written to a more established poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, whom he admired. The book is a collection
of the letters Rilke wrote in response to the rookie. It's a small book but knowing that it was written in the early 1900's and translated from German, I guessed that it might not be the easiest read for me. It would be, when I finished it, somewhat of a personal accomplishment. I searched and searched and finally spotted the skinny white spine of my desired book. I signed it out and walked out to my car, eager to get home and start reading. To my delight, when I finally settling down to start reading, I discovered the book's previous reader has written small notes in a number of the margins. The notes were carefully written in pencil and often included a circle around a portion of text that the note taker wanted to pay special attention to. Now, not only am I reading the correspondance of two poets, I also get to read the thoughts of a stranger. I get to see what inspired someone else to read this book. The graffiti scrawled in the margins had suddenly connected me to a person I would never meet.Library books connect countless strangers. As we share them they change hands, coming into our lives at different times and for different reasons. They allow you 3 weeks to immerse yourself in a story and connect yourself with that book. Books that we love become a part of our lives, a part of our journey. The beauty of library books is that we get to be a part of their journey as well.
