Through Book & Memory: The L/L Research Library

[Diana]

Incidentally, I've already gone through the experience of catastrophically losing an entire personal library, in my case one acquired over five decades, comprising over 5,000 volumes dating back to the 18th century, and containing many a bibliophile's gem (though I never did, alas, acquire that much-coveted first edition of the Gutenberg Bible signed by God). I liken the catalyst I experienced from this event as not quite equivalent to the loss of a small child, but certainly the next-tragedy-down, a notch or so. However, I know some pretty annoying little children, so my judgment might be skewed callously on this point. At any rate, it is wonderful training (certainly for an intellectual perhaps a bit too prone to take the abstract for the concrete) for letting go and living on -- if one can arise from the devastated pile of ashes of one's former bookish self, and look on the bright side: aren't the Akashic Records the ultimate back-up for any seemingly "lost" data that is truly valuable? In any event, as a certain Sufi said: Words must die if people are to live.

LOL! This paragraph made my day. Thanks for the amusement Dekalb.