Isn’t this a Monty Python song? Well, Monty Python was a fairly good representation of the way life is these days. The news is fake, and the fake is news.

Today, in keeping with your adage, one book at a time, you parted company with six or so boxes full of all genres. You distributed books to Connect Palmer, a local woman’s shelter, and Tier 1, a local veterinary clinic. You also went to pass on books to the owner of Roots Hair Salon – you called her in order to schedule a haircut appointment. She told you that a few days ago she fell off her fat tired bicycle and broke her ankle. You said that you’d drop off some books at her shop. The shop was closed, you’ll go back and attempt to drop them off again in a few days.

You also passed on two boxes of books to your dental surgeon’s assistant. One was a mixed box, containing adult fiction and young adult books. The second contained children’s carboard books. You felt a pang in passing them all on to her because you had carefully picked and cleaned each of them. Perhaps, you thought after, you should have given her a handful and passed the rest on to others. You didn’t. Well, there will be more you said to yourself.

Thidwick the moose

After, while waiting for Pete, you worked on straightening out the Meeting House library. At one time, you thought, someone really put a lot of time and thought into organizing the books in this room, and in particular the theology section. Then they either started to put their energies into other things, or they threw up their hands when there was an influx of non-theological books.

It’s not your library, so with this in mind, you worked in a very tentative fashion, consolidating the theology books (which are in the bookshelves on the right-hand side of the room) and consolidating the general interest books (which are in the bookshelves on the left-hand side of the room).

As you worked, you grew increasingly more somber, for in rearranging these books, you began to feel like Sisyphus, the analogy being that you are pushing a huge rock up a very steep hill. There are so many books and you have so little time. And there are now so few readers and so many books. Is this endeavor, you wondered, is all this worth your time? For a short while, you thought not. But then again, the project does seem to now have some momentum. Today, for example, a local business woman said that she would be glad to have books on display at two of her area businesses, and furthermore, liked the idea you proposed to her, which is to have them displayed on revolving book stands.

Now if this comes about, and it most likely will, you can monitor the inventory, adding to it when necessary.

Right now, it’s big things like this that are keeping you going.

Next: 6. 1/6/21: The Second Coming