By Mark Antony Rossi
Any lover of books will proudly proclaim the public library is in the same league as the church for being a sacred zone of inspiration. Before the Internet it was the library that fed knowledge-hungry souls. In this wondrous place you could visit different cultures, different worlds and learn how to plot a path to your dreams.
Many libraries were also a staging place for numerous activities. Small plays were performed, poetry was read, art work displayed, there were puppet shows and foreign films were showcased. The library in many communities became an indispensable location and often took on the role of election polling place, emergency shelter during a weather crisis and historical archive for the areas special records.
When cities cut their budgets the first place they hit was the libraries. Reduced their budgets for buying books, holding educational functions and in some cases even the hours of operation. I attended the protests at city council and pleaded with the powers that be to reconsider this soul damaging policy.
The soul of any community rests in its freedom to worship and freedom to improve itself to rise above its humble origins and reach for something bigger than themselves. The library after the school system was that lifeline available to rescue the residents of a rundown existence.
They found the money but I found a fight in me that would last a lifetime. I would make use of libraries regardless of my smart phone. I educated my sons to get their library cards at age 5 and use it regularly. Its presence and purpose in our lives should be no different than when I grew up and literally made it my second home. Libraries are a sanctuary worth fighting to preserve. My fight continues. I hope yours will begin shortly. We need the help.
About the Author: Mark Antony Rossi is a poet, playwright and author of the bioethics volume “Dark Tech” now available from Amazon. His most recent plays have been produced in Liverpool and New York.
http://ethical-stranger.webnode.com/
Indian Periodical
Indian Periodical
well done for your wise precept Mark . I wholeheartedly agree that libraries are a storehouse of knowledge and every school, college and homes too, if possible, must possess a library big or small does not matter
. i have been an avid reader of all sorts of books whether meant for entertainment or serious reading; it not only enhances your narrow ideals but also encourages you to think and review and ponder over by sharpening your own views
hope your very apt awareness will definitely ring a bell upon deaf ears
Bravo, my friend.
Great it’s to regard library as a sanctuary!
Undoubtedly, it’s a place where the horizen of our knowledge gets elevated horizontally and upwardly!
It’s a place where we can make new acquaintances, and interact with to broaden our sense of reality in the face of trivial issues that confront us individually!
When we get to know the difficulties experienced by others, we may tend to treat ours silly and hence to be discarded as inconsequential!
But this is simply out of question though options to access as many books as possible are available at our finger tips in this digital world!
Glory to the libraries!