Your Own Container

I have few memories of my dad, who died when I was 8-years-old. And, it seems, as I grow older, the number of memories seems to shrink. So when I remember something about my dad and me clearly, it’s like rediscovering a lost treasure. In recent days, I’ve unearthed a daddy treasure: our trip to the library.

I don’t remember everything about the visit. Not even the year (I’m guessing 1971?). And I’m not sure if it was my first trip to the library. But I do recall my excitement about this adventure with my dad. I have a strong mental image of me pulling my dad’s arm as I surged toward a stairway, looking for the next step in our journey. Shelves of books surrounded us. Quiet surrounded us. Happiness surrounded me.

And I please myself to think that it brought happiness to my dad as well. My only “hard evidence” is that he very briefly mentioned our visit in a letter to my brother who was in his freshman or sophomore year at the University of Notre Dame. The letter may have been Dad’s last letter to my brother before he died.

What brought up this memory? Election Day 2010. This morning on the News I heard about the passage of support for community libraries. I felt sad for those communities that didn’t pass their millages. I was also heartsick to think of kids who might not get any adventures, let alone first ones, to their community libraries.

To honor my dad, my memories and libraries, I Googled quotes about libraries and books. Here are a few that I especially enjoyed:

• Knowledge is free at the library. Just bring your own container. Unknown
• The only true equalisers in the world are books; the only treasure-house open to all comers is a library; the only wealth which will not decay is knowledge; the only jewel which you can carry beyond the grave is wisdom. J. A. Langford
• Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest. Lady Bird Johnson
• In reading, as in eating, an appetite is half the feast. Anonymous
• Books, like friends, should be few and well-chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again -- for like true friends, they will never fail us -- never cease to instruct -- never cloy. Joineriana
• A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life. Henry Ward Beecher
• There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration. Andrew Carnegie
• Libraries are community treasure chests, loaded with a wealth of information available to everyone equally, and the key to that treasure chest is the library card. I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card. Former First Lady Laura Bush