What is the matter with these people?

I thought that I would start the day off by reading the NY Times. I may have made a mistake by doing that. First, I read a story about the book reviews found on Goodreads. A lot of people are leaving One Star negative reviews for books that they haven't read, and that is because the books haven't been published yet. In a few instances the books haven't even been written yet, they are only outlines. The mental gymnastics required to do such evil is beyond my understanding. Why would you cause so much pain to people you don't even know?

Then I read about the ongoing crisis caused by people that enjoy banning books. This assault on our freedom's is gaining strength. This is the attitude that brought about the Middle Ages, sometimes aptly called the Dark Ages. Then I thought about the previous problem with Goodreads and realized that it was the same mentality driving both stories. Ignorance demanding more ignorance.

I read a lot of books. An average of, I would say, 2 1/2 books a week. I started reading, serious reading, at the age of 8. I had asthma and the reading let me be anywhere at all when I wasn't able to get out of bed. When I was 9, I was reading all of the Richard Halliburton books and going on great adventures with the author. I must agree that books are very powerful, and some people shouldn't read some books. But who gets to make that decision? And why that person? Perhaps the decision should be made by this person? Or maybe it should, be you? Or me? Or we could let the person that is reading make the decision. Now that is freedom.

I grew up a long time ago, while we lived in the low income, lower middle-class town of Manhattan Beach CA. Yes, back in the 40's, 50's and 60's, it was very much a sleepy beach village with a volunteer fire department, a dairy (Live cows) and a small library watched over by two blue haired matrons that guarded the 'gates' of the Adult Section, keeping impressionable children at bay. Then, one day while playing in the forbidden Pollywog Pond, making rafts out of old pallets and collecting pollywogs, I noticed something new on the opposite side of Center Street, it looked like a barn, but it had a sign out in front: Branch Library. We paddled back to shore and made our way across the road and went in. A very friendly older lady (without blue hair) asked us if we wanted any books to read. Yes, we did, and she led us through every aisle of the small library. Even into the 'Adult' section. Along the way she asked if we had any special interests. We did and it was astronomy. She took us right to the shelf in the adult section that held those books. We chose a few books, and she checked them out for us. 

We now knew where we would go to get our library books, even though we had to cross the forbidden highway (Sepulveda) to get there. From then on, Librarians held an elevated position in my mind. They still do.