Knowledge for granted

FYI, if you decide to google "blog topics" to find something to write about, not exactly helpful. I was given topics that made me want to hit the snooze button just thinking about them, and then I found such common sense, straightforward, duh! advice such as: "read books and magazines" and "watch the news" to get blog ideas.

Officially: not helpful. Essentially this advice told me to live my life as I already do. And I gotta say it's a little depressing that we have to wait until we're out of blog ideas to motivate ourselves to read books in the first place. I won't lie when I say that I cringe when people tell me they haven't used their library card in years. That's terribly judgmental of me, but at least I'm honest about being judgmental. Seriously, Americans love free things, am I right? And what does the library have? Free books. Let's get a move on, people. To la bibliotheque. Maintenant.

It's true, I love libraries perhaps a little too much. I brought a stack of eight books to Starbucks tonight and laid them out on the rug and four different people asked me, "What on earth? Are you reading all of those?" I realize I am not your usual, well, anything. But it breaks my heart to know that over the course of several years, one cannot find a single reason to walk into a library. I mean, not one little thing piques your curiosity in all that time, something that you can only find the answer to in a library? Instead of the news channel, word of mouth, even a bookstore?

And if nothing else, what about the ambiance? The quiet, the cushy chairs, the precious old men shuffling around? And if you're lucky, a coffee shop? I am lucky enough to enjoy all four of these things (quiet, chairs, old men, coffee), so for me entering a library is really striking gold, but surely your average person has to appreciate at least one of these things? Am I being to harsh here? Is it too much to ask that each person go to the library once in the next month, for me?