I wanted to say what I said above about libraries and librarians for many years, but as long as my parents were alive, I didn't want to write about it. I still don't want to write about it in any great detail, because I understand why it was like it was. #
Anger, pain and fear are passed down through generations. I knew their parents, and I knew what they all went through to get to America. I came to believe later in life that the responsibility of a parent is to do better than was done to them as a child, and both my parents achieved that. #
Back in the 60s, when I was growing up, things were different. Now, I think a kid could walk into a police station and tell the story of his house, and there might be some help. But not then. People stayed out of the internal life of families. #
The library really was a sanctuary for me. The librarians at the Auburndale branch of the Queens Borough Public Library knew me, they knew what I was interested in, what books I liked, what stories I liked to hear, and tell. The most important thing was they treated me as a real person. For kids, even today, that's rare.#
That's why librarians will always be special to me. Their ethos, their role, is so essential to a functional community. They don't get enough credit elsewhere, but with me, they are American heroes.#