Location: Walt Disney Magnet School
Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2015; 6:00-8:00 pm
Talk in everlasting words
And dedicate them all to me
And I will give you all my life
I'm here if you should call to me
I love Words – Written, Spoken,
Sung, you name it. It is remarkable how
sometimes one is reading a book or listening to a song, and a simple construct
of words grabs your attention and the book or song becomes memorable because of
that. Years later when you hear that
phrase again, you remember exactly where you were when you first encountered
it. Amongst other things, words can be a
teacher, a counselor, an instigator or an exhilarator. But more importantly, words can be a
comforting friend and something you turn to for baring your soul when you need the most.
I had not been to this place in
over a year. As I walked down the
familiar road, I came across the cozy café in the basement that I had always
liked and had hoped to visit someday.
Well, the coffee shop was closed for good and there would never be a
visit. For whatever reason, this made me
sad. I guess timing is everything. I arrived at the school and saw that the kids
were still there. It was the first time
that I had seen this place so full. Our
Volunteer leader Lori arrived and I went over to chat with her. This was the 2nd ever project that
I had done with Chicago Cares in 2012 and back then it was Lori’s first
time here as well. So it seems like she
is one of my older acquaintances through Chicago Cares.
Slowly the volunteers trickled in just as the kids left. The librarian Katie came own to
get us and we went upstairs past the familiar Mickey and Minnie, and through
the colorful corridors. Once we were in
the main library Lori told everyone why we were there, including the fact that
Katie and the other librarian teach during the day, meaning that our help is
invaluable. Now it was time to allocate
duties and with me being very familiar with the perils of shelving under the ‘Dewey Decimal System’, I chose to go to
‘Fiction’. This is one of the few projects that doesn’t
require any interaction between the volunteers and so I put on my earphones and
got to work.
 |
| 'I Survived' series |
I saw a series of books with pictures
of dogs on it, meaning I had to stop and take a look, and also a series of
books which were a series named, "I
Survived”, followed by the name of some disaster from history. Some of the titles were related to “World War II”, “Titanic”, “Pompeii”
etc. I am all for teaching the kids’
history in a more engaging way, but these seemed like a stretch. I worked steadily and finished my section
well before the ‘Non-Fiction’ folks. But it would have been rude to just stand and
watch, so I went over and helped them out for a while. I saw a book on my beloved ‘New England Patriots’ and with this
being the ‘Superbowl’ week and with the
controversy surrounding them, I was suddenly energized even more. We thought that we were done, but then
realized that there were indeed some more ‘Fiction’
books left and so polished them off.
Even with that this had been a rapid session and we were done
early.
As I walked the path of the lost key, I was unsure of my return to this place.
But I know I will. I mean it’s a library and one of the first things that I ever learnt to love were books. Earlier in the evening as I was sorting the
books, my friend had
texted me saying that her grandma had passed away. She mentioned how her grandma had taught her 'Scrabble' and how she owed her a lifetime for that. I said that the gift of words is
immeasurably and something which is truly noble. And this was an evening when I was surrounded
by books. Yeah, I will definitely come
back. After all, you can never turn your
back on your love can you?
You think that I don't even mean
A single word I say
It's only words, and words are all I have
To take your heart away
Lyrics by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb
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