As you have maybe noticed, I am sometimes cross and I am reluctant to do what others do. I am some kind of a Maverick who seeks to elude the chains others could tie me with since the one I tied around myself are heavy enough. As a Maverick, I don’t even follow the natural path for this assignment : I didn’t provide our beloved Instructor with a list of three Charities to choose from… I bluntly write about a Charity that isn’t really a Charity.
I, who don’t earn much and have no determined or regular schedule, have no money or time to offer a Charity on a regular basis.
I looked and looked for a Charity I could join, that did not required my time or money on strict schedule, that would be something different, something that would have a meaning to me, something I know how difficult it is to do without. I eat well, I have a shelter and I am grateful for all this. I don’t know what it would be not to have them. What I know is how it is like to not be able to access Culture which is so very important to me. Small means that allow one to eat and rest may not allow one to buy books that are so good companions. They allow readers to travel, learn, dream. They don’t make you satiated nor warm but they make you free. Above all, I am sure that reading and learning from books make people better.
That is why, in Soul of Charity, I wish to write about BookCrossing.
BookCrossing is a trend, a philosophy and a community that tries to make the world a free library. The main aspect of it is simply sharing books. BookCrossers leave their books “in the wild” for anyone to find and read, whoever or whatever the finder is. People who had the book in their possession at some point can follow the path of the book if the finders write “Journal Entries” on the BookCrossing website. Books are registered and given a BookCrossing IDentification number that is unique for each copy. The principle may seem to imply high means (access to the Internet) but it would be a mistake to think so. Basically, there is no real need to write the Journal Entry, the only obligation is to release the book once read for someone else to find. Of course, it is exciting to read the comments finders leave but it is part of the game that a book may disappear for months or years before someone writes an entry. In the meantime, the book travelled and met many people.
The action of releasing is absolutely uninterested for you can never know what will happen. The book may be found by someone who needed such a reading or by someone who would sell the book in a second hand bookstore (it happened). Mostly, the finder is another BookCrosser but the book is always released again and again and makes its journey through the world.
One of my first bookCrossing experiences was a special occasion in BookCrossing, a “Happening” somehow. BookCrossers for my city came with dozens of books by a sunny Saturday morning and hung them to a carefully chosen tree. We were sharing good times together when homeless people came to us to talk and take books, other people came too and all were chatting freely. For that lapse of time, we were all equal and it is important for whoever feels an outcast to have the feeling of belonging again. Just ask them.
Another special operation of BookCrossing was the promotion of a book about “Rankism”. Rankism is a social phenomenon that imbues every cultures and societies. Under rankism you can pile homophobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism… All disrespects from one group towards another it thinks lower. It also points out how unconsciously when victim of the system we repeat it on others. “Somebodies and Nobodies” seemed an end of study essay like thousands of others written every year, doomed to stay on the shelves of the university where it was written but copies where offered to any BookCrosser who would ask for one. Then, through BookCrossing, they would be released and be read by people who would have never bough them.
What I enjoy in BookCrossing and its community is the sharing, among us and with other unknown people. It’s completely free in so many senses. It is when, where and how you want, as often as you want or can. You don’t even have to join to participate. BookCrossers from my city have become my friends and we meet very often. Regardless of our age, group, religion or social background, we know we are also there to help each other. All BookCrossers form a great world wild web of friendship.
It’s not much : it’s - only ? all? - about sharing.
It may not mean a lot to who gives money or time to help cure diseases or to feed people in need. But think about it : would you part from your books? Books are close to our heart, offering a book is offering our deep thoughts, our dreams, a part of what makes us who we are.
www.bookcrossing.com
