Monday, October 20, 2008

In Celebration of Small and Beautiful Things

It's been a long time since I read a newspaper article that actually made me hopeful for the future, but this one did. I recommend it heartily. You know, I spend my time immersed in documents and personal histories of a time in Central America when senseless violence, political repression, banditry, rape, and massacre were commonplace in many countries. I am not familiar with the intimate details of the violence in Colombia nowadays due to drug-trafficking, international politics, poverty, and local brigandage, though I understand it is some improved over years past. Either way, I thank God for people like Luis Soriano and his Biblioburro, for continuing to make the world a better, bigger, brighter place in spite of programmatic attempts to squash the human spirit. The Rubén Darío poem at the end is a particularly nice touch.

Read the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/world/americas/20burro.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the link to that story! As someone who could not possibly live without books, I am immensely thrilled to read about Luis Soriano and his Biblioburro. Every man, woman and child throughout the world needs to have access to books .... to learn about the world and to momentarily escape the world they live in.

Kate said...

Wow, thanks for sharing that. Reading is as important as breathing to me, and it is good to have a reminder that I am so very blessed. I need to be thankful for all of those things I take for granted every single day.

A little dose of perspective is always a good thing!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting that. I am always so happy to hear about the good being done in this world.

Cheasty said...

Yay, book-lovers! If anybody wants a recommendation about revolution, latin america, and literature, I'm reading a great book right now by Gioconda Belli, the Nicaraguan poet and novelist, and former guerrillera. It's her autobiography, and the title is "El país bajo mi piel: memorias del amor y la guerra" which in English is "The Country Under My Skin: Memories of Love and War." I'm sure it's been translated, so look for it in a bookstore near you. I can't put it down.

*ok, i just checked amazon, and it has definitely been translated. check it out.

Renny said...

Wow, that's a great story! It almost makes me want to teach little children to read, too, and then I remember that reading program I did last year. Sigh.

Awesome story, though!