<idle musing>
We began employing a high school student from the local co-op program named Jessica. She is very good and we have enjoyed having her assistance. She helps out around the office and in the warehouse.
Well, the other day I was in the warehouse, looking at the boxes of books that had arrived that day—a normal occurrence. I saw a box from a European publisher and got all excited because it was a book I had been waiting to see for a while. She looked at me a bit strangely, but didn’t say anything. The next day, I was doing my normal routine and saw a few boxes from different publishers that contained new releases. I started exclaiming about how neat it was that these books had finally been released. This time she looked at me and said, “You’re funny. Why do you get so excited about books?”
How do you answer that??? Well, Cindy, our main warehouse worker, came to my rescue. She said, “Well, he spent a good part of his life studying this stuff, so he gets excited when he sees a new book come in.” Jessica asked me how long I had been in school. Now, how do you answer that one? I told her I was in school longer than she had been alive. She looked at me even stranger. I could just see her thinking I must be some kind of alien. She’s a senior in high school, looking forward to finishing and here is this guy telling her that he spent 13 years in college, after finishing 12 years in public school...he’s got to be a nutcase, 25 years in school.
So, yesterday I was in the warehouse and got all excited again about some books—isn’t that a normal reaction? Anyway, she just shook her head and kept on working…
</idle musing>
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2 comments:
If you love books, you're definitely in the right job. I think it's great that you've found your calling. (As for your intern, there's still plenty of time...)
James,
I can remember when I was in her shoes - so to speak -. I could not believe why anyone would want to spend a single day more than they had to in school. I knew that I had to go to college - my parents were first gen college students - so I had no choice. However, I resolved that once I finished college that was it for me. A career in the military and then retirment somewhere in the mountains. Boy was I wrong. In the course of life, college grew on me as did learning. It was kind of like tasting something for the first time - that doesn't really look all that great. Once you taste it you say to yourself, "hey this isn't all that bad." Next thing you know you begin to have cravings for that particular dish. I think you have planted a good seed here. Would that our youth would spend more time with books than other things.
This is an aside, but our daughter has probably only watched a total of 10 hours of TV in her 19 months of life. She loves to be outdoors playing with the dogs or reading books! Her mother and I encourage buying books and reading them.
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