I just returned from my late-morning coffee run and on my way back I noticed that some careless person had strewn their garbage from two trash bags all over the side walk in front of the side entrance door of my studio building.
I sighed, set my coffee down and commenced to pick up the trash, re-bag it and set it next to the fence where the garbage cans are generally set out around here. One bag was full of old food containers and the like. Pretty gross stuff. Fortunately this wasn’t the spilled bag. The other trash bag was full of old blankets, a shoe and other miscellaneous items. However, on the ground next to the bag was a hardbound copy of the Tenth Anniversary Calvin & Hobbes book…and it’s from a library that is located on the other side of the county. I noticed that it was due back on November 2, 2004. Man, the libraries in this country are already in dire straights as it is that they really don’t need this kind of careless abandon with books. I don’t know about other parts of the country but I do know that here in Marin County the hours of the libraries have been cut back quite a bit among other things and this worries me. I like libraries and the services they give to the community. It’s truly one of the last community oriented institutions in our modern culture that is free of corporate meddling and such.
Also, being a cartoonist myself the thought that some kid somewhere wasn’t getting to enjoy the wonderful world of Bill Waterson and his delightful creation for free and perhaps set her/him onto path of creativity was not making my day a nice one. So, now I know what I’ll be doing at lunch today. Yep. I’ll be driving this puppy back to the library.