...It all started with a library card

...It all started with a library card

I still have my library card, somewhere. I remember, it how it was bent and worn civilizing the innocence of my curiosity. My ignorance became complicated which made knowing better. It was to be my education. All this ended when I was given student card. It did not yield. It carried a precedent, wearing me down, bending me to account for a cold intelligence. I studied alone; my interest did not qualify. There was no discourse to account for that, but credits ensured approval. I satisfied the program with an experience to argue opinions suitable for conceit. I followed the conclusion of my learning with a job. A purpose finalized my accreditation. I had a livelihood. While working, I learned the value of knowledge and the industry mode of exploiting more things to make less worth. Then I met a computer and the logic of its existence. I stared at it. I placed my hand upon its cold algorithm. It processed alone without interest. Well…it made me think. So, I gave it all my knowledge, every coin I bit and emptied my pockets of success. I’ve taken to mind the world with a thinkable maturity. My education resumed. Curiosities cluttered my study and with them the inconvenience of wisdom. My diploma, converted to a shelf for Foucault et al. and on the wall, Rembrandt’s windmill grinds a simple life. Time does not argue with my sleep; moments do not hasten lean, but roll fat with comprehension. My manner became messy; mud from forest walks, coffee stains from cafes, radiation from hospitals and smiles that always managed to clean it up. They’re of course a complication to weather my conceit. Years pass and my study is now witty, wisdom is welcomed and the mess is now an artful mien. In it all, I found my library card, dusty from the long wait. I use it as a book mark in the library I keep. My education continues.

#library #education #learning #schooling #working #knowledge #curiosity #Zepf

thom h. boehm

chicken whisperer?voice-in-the-wilderness?the thinking man's circular knitting machine mechanic

3 年

Beautiful room, Stephen, and beautiful mantle clock. I have an older Seiko mantle clock, mechanical, that I bought in Japan with money from Pachinko... ha ha. I don't wind it often, as it is noisy, but it is a beautiful clock, too, that I have a hard time to part with. You save things like I do. I have a couple of my childhood library cards kicking around in a box somewhere, too. And they actually travelled to Japan and back with me. Although, in those days postage was not quite so dear as it is now. I've got this old world history book from the 1800s, open it and you will find some leaves, four leaf clovers, and a letter from my grandfather that died in 1978. Books contain so much, words just a portion of the wealth.

willemijn heideman

Professor at Faculty of Useless Knowledge | #AllSpeciesMatter | #NoNatureNoFuture | #Waldenizing

3 年

Always learning more myself too. And as a kid I was found in the section of science books more often than the children's department

Kathy Roxby

Writer & Website Content Manager

3 年

Books are insidious. ??

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