Libraries A Wise Investment
As a child in school, I spent most of my days in the hall sitting on the steps. I never did homework and no one cared. Who needs school! Who needs books! This is what I used to say when I was 12 and illiterate.
One day our teacher took the class on a visit to the public library. I had never been inside the library. The librarian must have noticed I was in foreign territory. She asked me what kind of stories did I like? I said: “Old cowboy westerns.” She picked a Davy Crockett and handed the book to me, not knowing I couldn’t read. The librarian gathered the class and read a short story to us. I liked it so much I returned every day with a pencil and copied every word to save, hoping someday to be able to read it.
I was raised in a home where books and school were unimportant. As a child, I never held a book or was read a story. I felt the rest of the school kids were a 1,000 miles ahead of me in learning. One day the librarian asked me why I didn’t check books out. I told her with some embarrassment: “I can’t read.”
She was surprised, because I was at the library every day. She then said: “Go get a book you like and let us see what you can read.” That precious librarian gave me a little time every day and the impossible happened, I started reading.
Whatever success I have made of my life, I am in debt to the kindness of the lady librarian who became my reading teacher. They say we are what we read, and it is very true. Books are silent teachers, filled with interesting words and expressions of thoughts. With books, we listen and the authors are our teachers. I grew to appreciate the necessity of technical librarians in my field of engineering. Librarians made my work easier by their access to national information computer systems.
I was happy to read this week that voters approved a bond measure for the Spokane County Library District. New branches will be built and new technology added and maybe young people will discover the joys of reading, as I did.
Parents who are aware of the importance of reading to their children, and who take them on library visits, are preparing their children to be early and better readers. The libraries have special children’s sections, full of happy, colorful and inviting reading books. I urge you visit a library soon.
I want to thank all the librarians for their dedication to helping, even a dumb kid like Ray.
MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a Your Turn column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write Your Turn, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.