rant of the bookish nature

entry disclaimer:  i try only to use this blog to encourage, promote beauty, share the calm...just for today, i need to rant.  (i teach middle school, afterall, so maybe you can humor me by alowing me, oh, say one rant per thousand entries or so to preserve my sanity?)  so this is a rant about trying to check out a book at my library that you already know i LOVE...the clerk notices my address does not match the library county.  sends me to my local library to get a card to bring back so i can enroll in a 'passport' program.  ok.  only the city i live in doesn't HAVE a library.  so i go three miles to the nearest one, happily peruse the aisles, pick three books, fill out my library card registration form and wait in line.  they send me upstairs.  that desk sends me downstairs.  they send me back upstairs.  they send me back downstairs.  i get in line again only to be told that if i want a card i will have to pay double digits $$ per year and only check out one of my books and then go back upstairs to get the expensive little sticker on my card to take back to the very first library.  i try to always be kind.  i was kind.  so i kindly put all three of my books in the return slot, recycled my application and left.  i'll figure something out, but being stuck in the demographical, political crossfire wasn't what i'd had planned for my evening.  maybe a cup of tea and said book.  i understand libraries need support and finally someone was kind enough to explain to me the process of library funding, local taxes and geographical boundary lines.  but it had been a long day at school multitasking and, among other things, encouraging small children to READ.  ahem. so i called the first library and they said that because i work in a nearby city, i can get yet another set of ID and go to a fourth library to see if i can get something called a courtesy pass.  by this point i'm tired.  i guess i didn't realize how lucky i've been all these 31 years of having a free library card tucked in my purse, going happily whenever i want since 3rd grade and checking out as many books as i like.  no kidding, it felt a little bit like the Spanish Inquisition.  so, dear readers, i'm done with my rant now.  in the scheme of things, i know it's really not a big deal. but you know the verse, "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also?" well, i got a sneak peak into my heart and realized that i don't care about riches, fame, fortune or material possessions.  try to take my library card away, however, and you just might see a grown woman cry.