I heard the coolest saying recently.
It's from Senegal and is the polite way to refer to someone who has died. They say, “their library has burned.”
Those words made me think of my father who passed away in 2010. He had a wonderful mind and especially loved historic facts, classical music and details of New York City where he’d lived his entire life. Whenever I had to go someplace, I’d ask him how to get there and he’d instantly rattle off which highway, subway or bus to take. I think the public transit routes and roads were seared into his memory.
When he left his body, that library burned. And I miss it. I catch myself wanting to pick up the phone and ask him about a specific building, ball player, or place we visited together.
I'm sad that he's gone, and solace myself by growing my own library.
Being a lifelong learner, that’s my joy.
How about you?
What’s in your library?
Think about your knowledge-base in a broad way.
Your library isn’t simply the books and articles you’ve read. It’s the accumulation of the places you’ve visited, the people you’ve met, and the experiences you have had.
It all lives in you.
Can you believe the depth and incredible knowledge you hold?
Take a moment to genuinely appreciate your tomes, volumes and wealth of information.
It’s so easy for us to focus on what we don’t know, and forget to acknowledge the breadth of what we already have.
Let’s celebrate each other, our collective libraries and wealth of wisdom we hold. Let’s share that knowledge with one another now.
And as we share with one another, we expand our own libraries, too. As we are curious about one another we open to life, to the vibrancy of existence and the wealth that is here for us.