Last week, there was a funeral in my town. A lady was buried. I only found out about it yesterday. So what, a lady was buried, that's nothing new. Ahh, but let me tell you about this particular lady.........
She worked at our pitiful little Library. I have known her for at least 20 years. The first time I ever saw her, I was asking for a library card. She informed me that she did not issue library cards to just any idiot who came in off the streets. I informed her that I was no ordinary idiot, I actually planned on using my card! I guess my charm won her over.
Our Librarian could be tough at times. But, come on, you expect that from a Librarian, right? She could also be the sweetest person you could meet. She retired from the library just last year. She lived alone, having lost her husband a few years ago. Why was she a "Mentor"? Read on.
In the summer of 2001, I decided that I really wanted to understand computers, and that whole "world-wide-web" thing. I thought about how neat it would be if someone like me could actually talk with the entire world! Someone told me that our library had a couple of old computers, and that I could learn there. Since I can walk to the library in only three minutes from my house, this seemed like a good thing.
My oldest daughter told me to go there, and just click on the "Internet Explorer" icon, and I would be hooked up! Nothing is ever that simple. She forgot to mention that you need to "double-click"...a most unfortunate circumstance. At least our librarian noticed that I was struggling.
So, out of all her other duties at the public library, this lady now decided to help this "idiot" sitting staring at a blank screen. She showed me how to set up an E-mail address with Yahoo,(it was free), and she taught me about passwords, and how to surf the "web". By the time she was finished with me that first day, I was throughly confused. But, I was learning. All of my life has been learning, and somehow, she understood that. No matter that this was too much information all at once, she knew some of it would stick.
Needless to say, I was intrigued, no, more like STOKED!!! I had to learn more! And our librarian was only too happy to teach me. Without her, you would never be reading this. I would go back from time to time, and learn a little more. But, there was something wrong, something holding me back. It was fear, the fear of "breaking" something. Screwing something up so badly that I wouldn't be allowed to come back.
In February of 2003, I took care of those fears; I bought my own, brand new computer. Now, if I screwed it up, at least I could call for technical help from the internet provider. Now, I could truly be on my own.(I would soon enough discover inter-net porno---strange). Because of this one librarian, I learned a new skill. I was able to teach that skill to my wife, and my youngest child. That one librarian opened the world to us.
There won't be any parades at this person's passing. No monument to her life, no fabled stories of her to pass on down through the generations. But you can be sure that she will be missed. At least I was thoughtful enough to go back while she was still working, and tell her just how thankful I was to her. She taught me something useful, and never asked for a single thing in return. I hope that my gratitude for this skill was enough for her, it sure seems a small pittance for what she gave me. We miss you Librarian. Maybe I will see you again, sometime.
Holla' If You Hear Me!!!
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