Meaning

Working at the Troy Public Library is an honor, a mission and a very serious responsibility to the community in which I've lived for many years. And it provides a fascinating perspective of our community, a place where you can hear a dozen languages spoken within five minutes (with little children who speak pitch perfect English, btw), see literally tens of thousands walk through the door each month, and watch young children squeal with delight at being in the "libary." We get to see elderly residents fulfill their lives with culture, study, entertainment and conversation, and sometimes we get to steady a young mother who desperately needs information on the cancer she was told she has, or the condition her child was just diagnosed with. And these days, we seem to be helping an awful lot of people write resumes, search online for jobs, and file their unemployment claims on our computers. If we were not here, where would they go?

This is what is at stake on November 2; nothing less than our community soul.

There lies before us, found in the records, narratives, stories, sacred texts and histories written through the ages, a great sweep of history; of enormous hardships, incredible heroism and tragic outcomes. And we live in their shadow, affected by their existence and outcomes, here today because history brought us here. And they can all be found in one place, under one roof - right now - with guides and servants we call librarians, who will show you were they can be found (hint: most are not on the Internet - though we'll guide you there too). At times this is done in good humor, yet in others it is done with profound reverence. These servants gauge your request, purpose and meaning to determine how to appropriately respond to your need - even if your actual request even fulfills your need and whether they can direct you to a more appropriate resource - Google that! It is their training, their understanding and their judgment that makes them true professionals and guardians of that which we hold dear - human knowledge and understanding.

In this context, the City of Troy and its current internecine battles for our way of life seem almost mundane, even pedestrian. How in the name of history can we even begin to compare our trivial issues with a past that includes the entire scope of history? But there is nothing trivial about this dispute.

This is our history, our moment. If we let those who would exploit this community asset for political purposes, to manipulate a specific financial outcome and carry the day, tax or no tax, we are finished as a viable community of decent people who have built upon two generations of earlier decent people with vision, a world-class library.

Think about that: Troy, Michigan, our hometown, our little suburb in Greater Detroit, has what can legitimately be called a "world-class library." Why this isn't the focus of our community pride for everyone is mystifying.

Is a mall more important than that? Are a few less potholes more important than that? And is having our police department racing around in sports cars more important than that? Outside of our school system, which by the way is perfectly complementary with the mission of the library, there is no more important aspect of our community. This isn't mere hyperbole, but a factual and data-based reality.

This is a library. This is not a political, financial or egotistical lever. This is our community's face, it's soul presented to the world. In it we tell those who would listen, business people, new home buyers, even our local community neighbors aspiring to live here, who we are. And today we can tell them, we are special, not because we think we are, or because we say we are. And not even because objective third-parties say we are, though they do. But because those who know us, who know libraries, pause in respect and say "The Troy Public Library, well, you can't even park there."

This debate isn't about how mad you may be at the city council. Yes, we agree it was unconscionable for them to support the city manager's Option 1 that included defunding the library. And yes, we feel manipulated. So is closing the library the answer??

And it isn't about whether money can be squeezed from other departments, thus starving or killing them (the fiscal reality is beyond those who would seek to deny reality, namely the Troy Citizens United), or punishing those that have won the pension lottery (it doesn't save the library and besides, half the city employees and almost all the library employees are part time with no benefits). It isn't about whether you are a good conservative or Tea Party person. And it surely isn't about whether you are mad at President Obama or the Pelosi Congress. Those things are all real, all legitimate, and utterly beside this moment's point.

The only thing that now matters, the only question that is before us, is do we, the residents of Troy, deserve a world-class library and are we willing to pay a reasonable price for it?

I think the question is absurd. Of course we do and of course we are. Make no mistake, Proposal 1 saves the library and nothing else will. The effort to "save" the library with no new taxes might save a shell of a library, but we deserve better than that. We've invested too much over the years to let that happen. The reckoning for the city council and this administration is next November, through the ballot box, the way democracy is supposed to work. Make your case - up or down. No cowardly manipulations of the process. If you don't have the principal of your convictions behind you, just shut up. But the reckoning for the Troy Public Library is Tuesday - and it's all or nothing.

Please, support Proposal 1 and allow history to continue to unfold for all of us who choose to follow and study it for the lessons of tomorrow and those of us who are not yet here, those for whom we build this legacy: our children's children.