an e-mail exchange with someone about books
Me: I donated twenty good books to a small town library. What was interesting was that the library director, a lady in her early thirties, had never read 1984 nor knew the name George Orwell.
Them: Is that a ringing endorsement of the town's intellectual and free thinking spirit? Or a sad display of small town America? Is that a fact you would be proud to share with international friends? Or one you would seek to sweep under the rug?
Me: I gave that one and a couple more that could have been controversial. I asked the librarian to set aside whatever books they aren't going to put on the library shelves and I would pick them up later. I asked them not to sell them. Hopefully the books will go through the channels and be ready for a young mind to harvest. The first book that opened my mind was, Was Gandhi a Christian?, written by a Catholic friend of his. It was not too long, but it turned some of my conventional beliefs upside down. What book did you read early on that possibly raised questions and created some healthy doubt??
Them: Osho had that effect on me, too.
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