Summer reading programs, free story time and air conditioning: the town library was quietly doing a lot.
GRATITUDE
WHAT THIS MEANS
Institutions that work are nearly invisible. A library lends books, keeps children occupied in August and gives anybody a cool room on a hot day, and none of it looks like a service, because none of it has a price attached. The absence of a transaction makes it easy to assume nothing is being provided. Somebody is paying, and somebody decided it should be free at the door.
Go in this week and use at least two of the things on offer. Borrow something, sit and work there, take a younger sibling to story time. Use is the argument that keeps the doors open.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
What did your town library quietly give you growing up?
MORE IN GRATITUDE & PRESENCE
- The friend who drove two hours to see your show didn’t need a reason. You were the reason.
- What your little sister will remember isn’t the gift. It’s the afternoon you actually played with her.
- You’ll walk into a house years from now that smells like your grandma’s and stop in your tracks. Notice it now.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.