Below is the letter I wish I could write to two individuals or two groups of people. I have never met them and never will. I just know that someone or some people used fireworks in both the Julys of 2020 and 2021 to blow up two Little Free Libraries located on the grounds of Monaco Elementary in Commerce City.
I direct a grassroots nonprofit in Denver. Our base is about 25 minutes from Monaco Elementary. Our mission is to create communities of readers in schools. So, we bought Monaco Elementary its first Little Free Library in 2016 and have been filling it with attractive children’s books on a monthly basis ever since. We like choosing books that we think that kids will like and we are excited when we return the next month to find that all the books that we dropped off are gone. When the first LFL was destroyed, we bought the school a second.
You might think that we would be really angry at the perpetrators of this destruction. We are not. We are sad, disappointed and bothered. We are perplexed. Here are the letters I wish I could send:
Dear individuals that blew up the LFL in 2020,
Last summer was like no other. Covid-19 was keeping the whole world confined. Hospitals were full and the death toll was mounting. Riots were erupting in cities all over the world. There was no place to go and nothing to do.
I do not know you. I do know if you are just one person or many. Perhaps using fireworks to blow apart the Monaco LFL was just a prank. Maybe it was a dare? Maybe you thought it was funny? Of did you feel angry at something else and thought this would be a good way to strike back? I would like to be able to sit down with you and talk about the summer of 2020 and how you felt.
Dear individuals that blew up the LFL in 2021,
Are you the same individuals who blew up the library in 2021?
Between July of 2020 and July of 2021, a lot of people died of Covid-19 in the United States and in the world. Did anyone in your family lose their job? Did anyone in your family get sick with Covid? Did anyone in your family die of Covid?
Were you in some school in the school years of 2019-2021? Was your school remote? Or, were you working? Did you lose your job? What did you do with your time when so many businesses were closed? Were you lonely?
Tell me. Were you ever a student at Monaco? If not, what elementary school did you go to? When you were in Elementary school, did your teacher ever read a book to you? Did you have a favorite book?
I am curious. How did it feel to blow up this new LFL? Were you scared that the police would come by? Did you know that defacing school property would have a hefty fine? How did it feel to burn the children’s picture books? Did you get a rush afterwards or did you wish you hadn’t done it?
You may not believe me, but I would really like to meet you. I would like to just sit down and have you tell me about yourself. It seems to me that when you blew up the Little Free Library, even if it was a prank or a joke, you were also trying to tell us something. I would like to know what it is that you were trying to say.
Do you think if adults, parents, teachers, politicians and friends really listened to you, you would still need to blow up a Little Free Library to be noticed?
The third Monaco Little Free Library is on its way. I would really like it if you could be there when I fill this one. We could share the excitement.
