Too often kindness is relegated to a random act performed only when we’re feeling good. But an even greater kindness (to ourselves and others) occurs when we reach out even when we aren't feeling entirely whole . It’s not easy, and no one is perfect. But we’ve decided it’s not impossible to brighten the world one smile, one kind word, one blog post at a time. To that end, a few of us writers have established The Kindness Project, starting with a series of inspirational posts.
Today I just want to highlight something I heard about on the radio. I know, it's kind of a cop-out in comparison to some of the other Kindness Project posts I've done, but I've been slammed at work lately, and even being on a hiatus from blogging hasn't helped much.
So anyway, I was listening to NPR on the way in this morning, as I am wont to do, and I heard this story, about literary giant Larry McMurtry, author of Terms of Endearment and Lonesome Dove, among others, who is holding an auction for 300,000 rare and used books.
His bookstore, Booked Up, is apparently a sprawling operation that takes up four buildings in his tiny town of Archer City, Texas. It's home to around half a million books, the majority of which will soon be going up for auction. In the interview, he said that he was concerned about his legacy, but wanted to unload some of the books because his son and his grandson are not book people.
This got me thinking about family, legacies, and giving. My dad died four years ago this October, and when my sisters and I went through his house, there was a lot of stuff to decide about. A lot of paintings, a lot of records, and a lot of books. Not nearly as many as Mr. McMurtry, of course, but a lot. We still have not had time to go through it all.
He died suddenly, and while he did have a will, it didn't specify what he wanted done with any particular items, so we've put most of it in storage until we have time to decide what to do with it. Someday I hope to have time to decide what I want to keep, and what I can give away, assuming someone somewhere wants it.
When I first heard about this auction, I was saddened and amazed (he's not giving the books away for free or anything, but still), but then I remembered my dad's stuff, and recalled what a burden it can be.
I don't know if I really have a point, but you should check out that story, it's pretty interesting. And here are the rest of today's Kindness Project posts:
