Monday, February 18, 2013

My parents, and librarians along the way, taught me about the space between words; about margins, where so many juicy moments of life and spirit and friendship could be found. In a library, you could find miracles and truth and you might find something that would make you laugh so hard that you get shushed, in the friendliest way. There was sanctuary in a library, there is sanctuary now, from the war, from the storms of our family and our own anxious minds. Libraries are like the mountain, or the meadows behind the goat lady's house: sacred space.
~Anne Lamott
25 Writers on the Importance of Libraries

2 comments:

HeidiInHolland said...

I love libraries of old. Nowadays, people talk (and loudly) when in the library. I am one of the crazy people that wishes librarians would shhhusshh everyone. :-)

This also made a thought come to my mind. I heard on the news that radical muslims burned and destroyed a library of very old books in Mali. How sad.

Hugs from Holland ~
Heidi

Trish said...

Heidi - I love libraries too. It's just too bad that they have been allowed to turn into what seems to be more community centers than a libraries. I'm with you! I think librarians should be shushing people and keeping the library a place for quiet reading and learning. Where else can one find a quiet place in public anymore?

It's heartbreaking to hear about a library getting intentionally burned down like that. What a cowardly thing to do. Groups who perform such acts are in the most need of the education, history and culture an old library like that could provide.