To whom it may concern:

One of the things I always seem to have with me is my library card. It is scratched from numerous swipings and the fingers of time have slowly peeling back the laminations, but through the years the bright yellow surface has remained a beacon in the doldrums of summer and the key to instant adventure any other time of the year.

I carry this card not out of necessity or under the will of another. I carry this as a reminder and a comfort of sorts. It’s a comfort to think that I have a world of infinite knowledge and experience right at my fingertips and a reminder that with this “golden ticket” I have unlimited access to it (between the hours of nine and five.)

For all it offers, this simple rectangle weighs no more than an ounce. In fact, when tucked away in a wallet amongst bills and spare change its weight, or presence for that matter, is quite ignorable.

My library card is no mental burden either; when I’m not blindly rifling for it in the checkout line I give it little thought at all. It’s just something I can take for granted, like the crickets in the bathroom or the stain on the living room rug: It’s just there.

Without this simple piece of plastic there are so many things I would never have experienced. Books I wouldn’t have read, Movies I wouldn’t have seen. If I stood before you today sans card I would not be the same person now typing this epistle. Instead you would see a stranger, baser, alter-self who could not tell you about the way spies transported maps over the border during WWII. She couldn’t name the actor who played Jeeves or even Wooster. She would know nothing about Greek or Norse mythology, nor would she be informed of Percy Blakely’s secret life as the Scarlet Pimpernel; And at no cost could this considerably stunted individual at any point in time whip you up a most delectable glass of cranberry lemonade.

My library card has given me so much, from “Cinderella” to “The Raven” it has always been there as a friend, as a facilitator and as a symbol of insight into the inner workings of the universe.

Sincerely,

Susan Johnson