If any other institution was giving away essential items, it would be a sensation. The grocery store, the car dealership, even the laundromat would have a line out the door.
And now that we’ve moved many elements of the library online, it’s even easier to access.
A century ago, information was truly scarce and books were far more expensive than they are now. A decade ago, obtaining the instructions on how to do something was difficult indeed.
“It’s too expensive,” or “I can’t get access to it,” used to be really good excuses. But they obscured the truth: “It’s too much work.”
And that’s the answer to the question. It’s too much work to change our minds. It’s too much work to dance with the fear of failure. It’s too much work to imagine walking through the world differently.
That doesn’t have to be the case. We can refuse to be brainwashed into accepting the status quo, and we can commit to finding the others, engaging with them and leveling up.
If we care enough.