This question has been floating around in my brain since I began this journey. I haven’t understood my need to do this. In my first blog post I explained it as going to a safe place, one that has been there through hard times and has enabled my healing and growth. While this is true, there is more.
Today when I walked into the Nashville library and walked through the exhibits it was more than a safe space. In the Civil Rights exhibit there was a board with the question, “What can you do today to enact change?” Post it notes were attached to the board and carried over into the display that read “Nashville, I did not come to Bring Inspiration, but to gain inspiration from the Great Movement that has taken place in this community.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This spoke to me, gain inspiration, feed my soul, yes this is the reason. Another post read “To Keep Public Libraries”. I am unsure if this was a class or if it was just visitors to the libraries but standing, reading the walls, looking at the history of Nashville I felt tears well up within me. To gain inspiration, feed my soul and keep the legacies, history of our libraries alive. This is purpose.
To learn and share the legacies within these great libraries. This is what feeds my soul. Sitting among the greats, discovering great writings, histrical writings I have not encountered before. Exploring exhbits native to communities within our world. Resting and feeding my soul. Sharing my learning in my teachings, writings and work.
My heart broke as I learned from librarians of their hardships from the recent tornados. Many survived with only memories of waking the storm swirling outside their homes, yet coming to work to find colleagues who had lost their homes. They spoke of how they were binding together as the library community to help each other.
Visiting the children’s library on Monday there was silence. No children running, no voices reading. The librarians spoke again of the tornado, how the city was making sense of it in the after wake. This was the first day of school for the community, busses were late, schedules were off so the library was unsettlingly quiet. The librarians spoke of the heartache and worries of the children and families.
The Nashville library is a gem in this great city. It was an honor to walk among the greats, read the books, chat with natives and librarians. Learn from the exhibits. Unsure of why before this pretrip, sure and honored to visit each library moving forward. Oh the learning and soul expansion this pretrip has given me.
Today, visiting libraries makes more sense. My soul is rich with all the learning. Walking the streets, visiting with the librarians, people within, exploring exhibits and reading their books. Excited, invigorated, ready to share morsals of this experience, then on to more.
literacyfern.com 