Books

Last week my dad, a book lover himself, told me about this elderly man who had been an avid reader since his childhood. Not having a lot of money, every book he bought was a little treasure. He used to rummage in second-hand bookshops and ramble all over town looking for a certain title or for a certain edition. With love and dedication, his collection grew slow and steadily,

Naturally cheerful and outgoing, in the last few months this man had become sad and quiet. He knew that his children and grandchildren didn't care about books. His books or any others. And he was worried about the future of his precious and loved ones once he was no longer around.

I happened to have read this heart-warming story a few days earlier: Elvira Lindo - Libros en la basura
José Alberto Gutiérrez, dustman in Colombia, found a tattered Tolstoy novel on the street and brought it home, where his wife mended it with love. He started doing the same with every book he found and even his mates at work were giving him the ones they found. José Alberto and his wife put all the rescued books in their living room. Soon, children and women from their poor neighbourhood would come to read them. It didn't take very long before they they had to find a new place for all the books... Today, they have several million books in three libraries, all built with love and dedication.

Books deserve to have several lives. To be treated with care.

And to be shared.