Stephen Carter's Blog: Have an Egg
March 21, 2013
Thrift Thou Art, and unto Thrift Shalt Thou Return
I was in college; my life stretched out before me a vast, alluring expanse of reading time. But my bank account dwindled beneath the burden of tuition and rent.
But God looked upon my pitiful state and said, "Let there be thrift stores." And when he saw that he was obeyed, he said, "Let there be books of all kinds, and let those books multiply and replenish the earth that Stephen may have joy and rejoicing in their posterity."
And God placed these thrift stores on my route to and from work so that I could stop in and oft partake of the heavenly fruit. And I did.
Oh yes, I did.
I would come home at least once a week with two bags of beautiful used books. As I placed them on my bookshelves (which soon became double-, triple-stacked) I would bask in their golden promise. I was building a great library that would nourish me all my days.
I also took pleasure in the little rectangular stickers on the front of each cover displaying the price I had paid. Millions of years of hunter-gatherer instincts gloried: it was as if I had taken down mammoths with toothpicks!
My friends and siblings were not fond of my library. They had to carry it boxed whenever I moved. But I was dedicated to my collection and brought a great deal of it to Alaska, to Wyoming, to Utah.
It's been 15 years since I bought these books. I have read some of them. Five percent, perhaps. Many of them, bright pockets of potential, live in boxes stacked in my basement. Sometimes I stumble down and look at them, remembering the thrill of their hunt and the pleasures they had projected into my future. Each cover, each heft, each whiff jolts a little memory.
But lo, God did take pity upon my brothers and sisters; he did show mercy unto my wife; he did plan for future generations.
"Let there be Kindle."
I have more books on my Kindle than I could ever read. (The complete works of Anthony Trollope for one dollar? Sign me up!) My life lies before me (though 15 years less of it) boasting a bumper crop of digital reading.
I will move soon. My relatives have laid down a tacit ultimatum. I am therefore cleaning out my paper library. Not completely, but enough that it hurts. Each book moved to the "out" box is a small death--a tiny memory taking its leave.
However, my little ones are returning to the land from whence they came. And most of them still with their original price sticker, manifesting their royal lineage.
The circle of life continues. And I shall not weep.
But God looked upon my pitiful state and said, "Let there be thrift stores." And when he saw that he was obeyed, he said, "Let there be books of all kinds, and let those books multiply and replenish the earth that Stephen may have joy and rejoicing in their posterity."
And God placed these thrift stores on my route to and from work so that I could stop in and oft partake of the heavenly fruit. And I did.
Oh yes, I did.
I would come home at least once a week with two bags of beautiful used books. As I placed them on my bookshelves (which soon became double-, triple-stacked) I would bask in their golden promise. I was building a great library that would nourish me all my days.
I also took pleasure in the little rectangular stickers on the front of each cover displaying the price I had paid. Millions of years of hunter-gatherer instincts gloried: it was as if I had taken down mammoths with toothpicks!
My friends and siblings were not fond of my library. They had to carry it boxed whenever I moved. But I was dedicated to my collection and brought a great deal of it to Alaska, to Wyoming, to Utah.
It's been 15 years since I bought these books. I have read some of them. Five percent, perhaps. Many of them, bright pockets of potential, live in boxes stacked in my basement. Sometimes I stumble down and look at them, remembering the thrill of their hunt and the pleasures they had projected into my future. Each cover, each heft, each whiff jolts a little memory.
But lo, God did take pity upon my brothers and sisters; he did show mercy unto my wife; he did plan for future generations.
"Let there be Kindle."
I have more books on my Kindle than I could ever read. (The complete works of Anthony Trollope for one dollar? Sign me up!) My life lies before me (though 15 years less of it) boasting a bumper crop of digital reading.
I will move soon. My relatives have laid down a tacit ultimatum. I am therefore cleaning out my paper library. Not completely, but enough that it hurts. Each book moved to the "out" box is a small death--a tiny memory taking its leave.
However, my little ones are returning to the land from whence they came. And most of them still with their original price sticker, manifesting their royal lineage.
The circle of life continues. And I shall not weep.
