Current Events – Page 54 – The View From Sari's World

To be clear I’m no Luddite. I’m sitting in my kitchen writing this on my Mac while my iPad plays Baroque music in the background. In the living room my iPod is sitting loaded up with podcasts, while my HP laptop waits patiently for me to use it again. I’m a huge fan of technology and eagerly await the advances that are surely around the next corner, yet there are some changes that I’m now willing to accept only after some initial kicking and screaming. The idea that libraries are now digital media centers goes against everything I know and love about these sacred houses of books.

As I pulled into the library parking lot yesterday, I was a little stunned to see it full. Our library opens at 10am with the first couple of hours being quiet, having just a few die-hard patrons and the handful of unfortunate homeless, enjoying the peace and quiet and comfort of the soft library chairs. Obviously there was an event taking place that I did not know about. Was it a book sale? Was the library hosting an author? Turns out what was going on had nothing to do with books.

This became evident as I walked through the doors. Sure enough, it was the usual 10am crowd that greeted my senses. I watched as the older men hurried with their selections, not wanting to waste a single moment of their lives, as only those who understand the preciousness of time will do. I smelled the young homeless man, who didn’t just smell of wood smoke, he reeked of it as if he had slept in a fire not next to it. What I didn’t see were the people whose cars filled the lot.

After I returned my books using the automatic chute, there’s very little human contact anymore in the library, I walked over to a librarian who was busy stacking books and asked her what was going on, where were all the people? She told me the library’s new Media Center had just opened and everyone was upstairs learning about the new computers and video game consoles, would I like to go up there?

I said no, in my best haughty voice “I’m here to check out books”. She just smiled and went back to shelving. My favorite library Sandy had heard our quick exchange and walked over to me. “Sari times are changing, welcome to the new library. The new digital library, where you can make a movie, learned about spreadsheets, print out a poster, change your VHS tapes to DVDs and of course surf the web. Anything that you can do on a computer you can do here for free”.

I mentally fell on the floor kicking and screaming, No! No! No! The library is where you go when you want to pick out a book! A book will take you on an adventure, a book will show you something you never thought was possible, a book allows you to “meet” people from other walks of life that you otherwise would never get to meet! Books shape our lives and give meaning to the world around us! They help form the people we become!

That last thought jerked me out of my mental tantrum and I once again found myself standing calmly in front of Sandy as she explained all of the wonders that this new digital library has to offer. Wasn’t it through the Internet that I finished college? Hadn’t it been through the Internet that I’ve met the most wonderful people and the most important friends that I have now? Hadn’t it been the Internet that I’d learned so much from in the past 10 years that I’m no longer the person I was before? Yes, yes, yes. The Internet has expanded my worldview in ways I would have never thought possible, and has allowed me to explore my inner world by brining out talents I did not know I possessed.

I’m sitting here writing an essay disparaging the new digital library, which in a few moments will be a part of the World Wide Web, where anyone can access my words. The irony of this is not lost on me. As much as I think books are still important tools we should learn to use skillfully, it is much more important that we develop our mental muscle and expand our worldview using whatever form of media is most comfortable. The library is dead. Long live the library.

We are a nation of excess. From mega grocery stores to cable companies offering hundreds of channels, America has become a nation of gluttonous consumerism. If we continue to use our natural resources at the rate we are going, our way of life will come crashing down. But, is this a bad thing? After all, we haven’t always had so many goods to choose from.

I’m brining this up because of a recent trip to my local Trader Joe’s. Friday night, right after work, I headed over there for some fresh produce and needed staples .

A sign greeted customers at the front door that read “Our refrigerators broke down last night, we lost our perishables, please bear with us as we restock”. I sighed as I walked in. “Great”, I thought, “it figures the night I decide to shop they are out of produce”. To my surprise the store was fully stocked, if it wasn’t for the sign, I wouldn’t have had any idea that they had experienced mechanical failures. I had my choice of produce. The dairy section offered a variety of milk, yogurt and butter. The freezer sections was full, if anything, there was more than usual. I had to ask, “what’s up with that sign”?

Turns out, someone had noticed the freezers had shut down Thursday night. A few employees stayed late, throwing out food, not knowing how long the perishables had sat “warm”. By 5am Friday morning, trucks had arrived with replacements, as had a technician who fixed the power supply to the freezers. By the time I arrived to shop, 12 hours later, everything in the store was “fresh” a clerk proudly explained.

As I stood in line to pay for my food, I thought about this and the food I had in my cart. It dawned on me, that not only did the store throw out perfectly good food, the company was able to replenish its supplies within hours. I noticed the produce in the cart in front of me. Did the lady know most of what she had was out of season? That we now come to not only expect a well-stocked store, but also food that once would have not been available year round and that it comes with a hidden cost?

It wasn’t all that long ago, we consumers knew that peaches in the winter meant eating them out of cans, and that tomatoes only tasted vine ripened in the dog days of summer. Once you could set your “seasonal” clock by the items in your local grocery store. Just about the time you thought you couldn’t eat another dry orange or soft apple without losing your mind, in came the strawberries, blackberries and peaches. Spring had arrived! For a child, this could be almost as magical as Christmas. No more canned fruit, heavy on the syrup but light in taste. One bite of a fresh berry could put any child in ecstasy.

Now, we come to expect stores to stock our favorite foods year round and will seek out those who stock the most, without thinking about the true cost of eating out of season. That produce we expect to have ready available comes to our tables from hundreds of miles away, and at an expense many do not realize. From the over use of pesticides for bigger harvest yields to the fuel it takes to truck in all that food, the foods we eat are coming to us at a price we may soon not be able to pay. It’s coming to us at an expense to our environment.

So what’s my point? Why even bring this up? I bring it up because if we don’t start setting self-limits on what we eat and when we eat it, very soon the choice will be out of our hands, either by rising food prices or by a tightening of fuel usage; at some point it may not make economical sense to truck food hundreds of miles. It is time to think globally, act locally, at least for me. This is the realization I came to as I stood in line. I’m going to learn how to can seasonal food, so that at least during the winter months, as I open yet another can of peaches or beans, I will be assured my food did not come with a hidden cost.

Category: Current Events

The Library is Dead. Long Live the Library

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