defending

Today at dinner my parents just had to bring up that issue that had been bugging all me for quite awhile, about ti joining the librarian board.

What I don’t understand is why they simply insist that he has to, and from what I can see, he’s not even interested. What is the bloody point of forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do? I cannot understand why you must push something that holds no meaning for him, and by doing so you only make him resent you guys even more.

Don’t be an ass and push him to do it just because I was one in the past; It’s meaningless, and it hurts me to know that all this is a façade just to convince yourselves that he isn’t trash. As much as ti is an ass, he’s got good stuff in him. Just that it’s not in the mechanical everyday things that the average adult likes to do, or would like their kids to do. I don’t understand why you won’t let him discover himself. He’s at the ‘I’m an idiot who survives on online gaming and I don’t give a **** to what you say cause I don’t like it’ stage, which also pisses me off. But what is worse than the shit he gives me is the kind of shit you dish out at me just because he’s like that (or vice versa – either way, it never sat well with me).

And then you have dad attacking me from the “Would it kill you to do it?” point of view. In retaliation to that, if you want your blatant one-word answer, it’s no. So to appease you, and prove you wrong on that point, I will do it. But bear in mind that it doesn’t feel right to me simply because you are insulting what I like by forcing it unto others despite the very very VERY obvious fact that he holds no interest nor would he benefit the board in any positive way by being forced in against his will. He might as well not join if he intends to be kicked out.

In plain English, don’t freaking insult the librarian board. I was a part of it, I know what it’s like to be one, and I loved it. I joined it not for the points, but as I was just interested to be one. Initial curiosity drove me;

“Wonder what these guys do – they look like they’ve got lots of free time (which I learned later that you do *not* always get) and sitting at the counter as a librarian gives you some sense of superiority. It’s kind of an unwritten rule, where the plastic chairs with the armrests at the counters are a librarian’s –special rights– which was kind of fun.”

Hey, I was only 14 back then. I’ve always dreamed of working in a library or a bookstore at one point of time or the other. There’s a wonder about books that you either have or don’t, but luckily enough it can be honed with the right company and the right type of books. Naturally, you figure out for yourself what genre it is you really like.

Once I got in though, the feeling was great. Having joined with ai-chan and another pair of close friends (though I’m sad to admit we’re not so close as we were) we were some of the few who actually paid attention to what’s happening, and how to process books and neat little things like that. For one, it taught me how to wrap books neater than all the shoddy stuff I’ve even called wrapping. It also earned me a handful of acquaintances that were very fun to hang out with. As I never really clicked with the ‘in’ group in high school the library was a sanctuary to me. (Yeah, yeah, I can hear the DU-rians going “And so do the hordes of lepak-ers, couples and study nerds, you know~”)

Note: I still don’t remember the Dewey Decimal system. XP Not even the most general categories.

The library primarily is a place to read. And you’d never notice from the first glance that there are some hidden gems among the haystack. It was here that I read Macbeth, was introduced to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, had this idea that some (not all mind you) of Dickens’s books were a real bore and never tired of finding multiple copies of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ (simply because sarcasm is all over his works, something I find rare).

The other (more widely known) functions (among students) include:

• escaping from class when there’s a free period


• escape teachers when you don’t like the subject


• escaping for the heck of it


• a hangout for people during break (for me and a few others, at least)


• a neat hidey-hole from society (which was what I treasured about this place)


• finishing up last-minute homework, assignments and projects


• hold chat sessions (which probably led to spreading of rumors)


• as a discussion room for school debaters


• for couples to whisper sweet nothings to each other (believe me, look behind the shelves, or maybe at the back of the library)


• for revising before and during exams

I can’t get angry over something for too long. The mood of the post seems better now, which pretty much reflects how I feel. ^__^ Now that the bout of stubborn defiance is over, I kind of feel relieved. But I know it’s never going to end. It will continue on, and on, until we live far enough to appreciate them for what they were trying to do for us.

If only.