photo courtesy: backyardskeptics.com
US Library throws the book?
The Athens- Limestone Public Library in the town of Athens in Alabama will be enforcing the law to discourage errant book borrowers. The Library sees about $200,000 worth of its assets still not returned by the concerned users. The city’s ordinance provides for a fine of
$100 or a prison term of 30 days or both based on the discretion of the Judge.
Light up your minds as you cool heels in prison cell
If indeed the Library gets the errant borrowers into jail, maybe as a solace, it may let these prisoners keep those books with them in jail to enable them to finish reading. Thirty days is a good period to read a few books and even though the jail birds may not become wise owls, they would end up wiser than before.
Spare a thought for the procrastinator
The person borrowing the book may have finished reading it or in all probability may not have got around to finishing it. There is a lot of debate out there on whether Procrastination is a habit or a disorder. We believe there could be a gene responsible for some of us to take some things more easily than our neighbour. It could trigger a mindset, which if not regulated, could fall into disorder.
Cool Chilli’s View
At Newstikka, one of us borrowed a book to help with increasing productivity. A few weeks later, the book was reluctantly returned back. The follow-ups from the Librarian helped surely. The book was titled “Time Management” but one did not get enough time to proceed beyond Chapter One.
The ‘rogue’ gene mentioned above may not be entirely a problem gene. In fact it could have been an evolutionary safeguard. It prevented early humans from getting too worked up. Else the vagaries and threats in the African jungles could have caused extinction by paranoia! What do you do when your fellow cave-dweller fumed and fretted about the incessant rain? It prevented him or her from venturing out of the cave, he or she cribs. You can comfort the person and ask him or her to Relax and Take Life Easy.
Or imagine being stuck on a tree (without any adjacent tree to jump to) with a pack of jackals prowling below. This gene would have surely helped you weather the perilous period. Till either the jackals got weary or help came from friends. Those friends, please note, who did not wish to take life so easy and wait for your return endlessly. They chose to come looking for you!
Additional Reading
Jail sentences for not returning books?
