Friday, June 20, 2014

Energy

I have looked at occasional co-workers that burst with energy and felt a kind of wonder. There they are running around the library with all that gusto, and there I am. Yes, there. See me? Just reading that book there for a little. I think I'm resting. Am I staring into space? Oh, there, I'm up! I bet I'm going to shelve a ton of stuff. Nope, false alarm. I appear to have just thought of a joke I wanted to tell all my co-workers. There I am telling the joke to whatever co-workers I can find, and that patron there. I think the patron likes it. Now I am helping the patron. Now I wandered over to another book. Now I am resting again. There I am thinking about things. This is all making me wonder when I work. Oh, right, I remember, it's because we're watching me. I try only to work when no one is looking. We better go back to the blog post so I can get something done.

I used to think that energy is something some people (not me) have a lot of, and some people (me) don't have so much of. But writing every day here has taught me something else. Energy comes in different forms, and for different things.

Let's roll back the clock on this blog post a bit. See that person, one of those ones with the energy we started out talking about. Look at them go. They are shelving this, and pushing that, and running over to get that. Sure I can get all critical about their lack of efficiency, but that's not what we're here for. This person, for instance, is pretty focused, dogged even, and just look at how much she's getting done. A lot! It's a nice use of energy.

Now let's go forward to me. Reading, hmm, resting, wait, that's not resting. Can you see my mind whirring? My mind is whirring! I'm up! I'm off to tell the joke. I don't tell it the same. I shift it, rewrite it in little ways. I bring in the patron as part of the community of the library. The patron needs a book. I know that book cause six weeks ago I read a bit of it while leaning against some transit boxes, or while sipping cappuccino somewhere. I know what the cover looks like. I have a feeling I just saw it somewhere. I get it for the patron. Another book catches my eye. Someone told me about it. A blog post starts stirring in my mind. I think I'd better shelve a cart as quick as I can because there are things I need to write down.

Energy.

It belongs to the active and the indolent. It is smart and bland and blind and keen. And in the end it is invisible. We see only the effects of it, and embodied they can be utterly obvious or artfully concealed. Shimmering with life or... smuggled through.

I used to think I was somehow shorted on energy, but it's not like that. It just depends. Here, let's go find me again, doing my quick shelving up in the stacks. There I am in the large type section. Oh, I'm reading again. We'll just wait a bit.

Boy, that's a lot of reading.

Could someone maybe try and get my attention there. I'm trying to use me to make a point. What am I so interested in? Can you see what I'm reading? Oh, yes, my, that is interesting. I'll just sort of hover here over my shoulder for a while, looking on.

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