Library: the Collection

I was about 8 years old when my parents began looking for a new house to live in, because we were having an addition to the family, my little brother Robert. Once in awhile, they'd take the rest of us children with them. One time we were looking at different house models, and I clearly remember wanting a certain model because they had two high walls of bookshelves. My parents had to explain to me that the house we were building wouldn't automatically have the bookshelves in it. I knew that, but didn't really believe it, because since I could now visualize it, I wanted that house just because the dream of having a little library like that seemed more realistic when living in that house.

Cicero has said, "To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul."

Since I was little I began to picture owning a library in my home. But what amazed me was that as I grew and matured, so did the context of my imaginary library. The shelves were first filled with the Harry Potter books, the Eragon books, the Alex Rider books, the Dr. Seuss books, mostly the entertainment and fantasy books. Soon, the were filled with a more classical, science and historical fiction angle. But I never really had much of an interest in the non-fiction genre. Until recently.

As Holbrook Jackson said, "Your library is your portrait."

Now my library would include all the perviously mentioned books, along with Way to Be! by Gordon B. Hinckley, as well as some of his other books like Standing for Something. It would include Elder Neal A. Maxwell's books such as Moving in His Majesty and Power. Also, I'd love to get some works by President Thomas S. Monson and the other church presidents. It would also contain Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach their Kids that the Poor and Middle Class do not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter, The Five People you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, Seven Miracles that Saved America: Why they Matter and Why we Should have Hope by Chris Stewart and Ted Stewart, Live your Life for Half the Price by Lyle and Tracy Shamo, Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

Of course, this isn't all. I'd include all my textbooks from college, some literary journals, some encyclopedias, church magazines, talks on CDs like The John Bytheway Collection Vol. I & II and The Little Things that can make a Big Difference by Daryle Hoole. I'd add on biographies, "How To" books on different skills, essays by Thoreau and Emerson, and journals of my ancestors and relatives, including my own. My library would also contain little inspirational thought books like Small and Simple Things by Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

I'm sure that in a few days I would even have more to add to this imaginary collection.

President Hinckley has said, "I love libraries. I love books. There is something sacred, I think, about a great library because it represents the preservation of the wisdom, the learning, the pondering, of men and women of all the ages accumulated together under one roof to which we can have access as our needs require."

What a wealth of Knowledge! What a wealth of Wisdom!

There are few things I wish to collect in my life: friends, family, and wisdom.

"A library of wisdom, then, is more precious than all wealth, and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it," says Richard de Bury, one of the very first English collectors of books.

I don't entirely agree, as there are more important things then books, such as family, the gospel and the goal of achieving Eternal Life, but a collection of wisdom, even if it is only located in the mind, is something to always increase and magnify.

How I wish to make my dream a reality. And I am working on it. But it'll take awhile. Books and the like cost a bit of money, and poor college students do not have that much to spare. Except slowly and surely. The textbooks will be a required buy, and every once in awhile I shall buy a book to add to my currently non-exsistant shelves. It'll be an adventure.

When I was little I learned about the Library of Alexandria. I noticed it because, well, Alexandria is my name, then the word "library", and I discovered that it was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I learned it was the largest library of the ancient world. I then came to the startling question of "What is the largest library in the world today?" I learned that the Library of Congress was in fact the largest library. It soon became my goal to visit that place someday and own a library card for that library (though not long after, I learned that public can't check out books, though they can use them). So someday I would visit. What's rather ironic of course in the fact that my family this Spring Break is going to D.C. without me. Sad sad sad. Oh well, I shall accomplish this goal someday! I have a whole life ahead of me!

What an adventure it will be! To collect knowledge, wisdom, and experiences.