LENOIR, N.C. – You can have them when you can pry them from my dead, cold hands.

I am referring, of course, to my books.

I have confirmation from the highest authority – our mother – that readers make leaders. Indeed, we are learning that reading is essential to maintaining liberty. Though she died in 2008, her voice remains quite clear in my mind. A reading specialist, she taught 35-plus years in Harrison County, W.Va., including roughly 30 years teaching fifth graders at Johnson Elementary in Bridgeport.

A weekly exercise at home for us was doing the Reader’s Digest vocabulary. Our parents demonstrated community service and engagement. It was expected of us as well. Books, Mom taught us, opened doors in our minds and to the world. To be a leader, we were taught, we must first be a reader.

And so I am. Yet, for a year or so I’ve been thinking of downsizing my library. I’ve offered them to friends and family. Then, a couple of days ago, I took the first book off the shelf to pack. I set it to the side. I picked up another. Then another.

Just as quickly, I put them back. I just could not do it! I’ve had some of these books over 50 years. Many are gifts. Some are rare. To discard them would be like erasing all that is written in my mind, captured in my memory, treasured by my heart, and spoken through my soul. In short, impossible.

I may be a hoarder, but I am a hoarder of wisdom. Some of these books I’ve read more than once; other selections, such as the poem “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, I read regularly. They still spark my mind, opening me to awareness and action, just as when I first read them. As you’ll see from the photos below, I have all types of books, including some that many would consider blasphemous or subversive.

Above is a Garrison Keillor novel and some of the books I’ve authored. There is philosophy by Roland Barthes (a college text from more than 40 years ago). Biographies of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Walter Cronkite, alongside “Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.”

Above is Washington Irving’s five-volume history of George Washington, written and published in the mid-19th Century. There is also a family history and books on the environment and spirituality. And, poetry of Langston Hughes.

Above are English literature textbooks from college, books on Lincoln, an illustrated history of the Civil War by Matthew Brady and a book about the last reunion of Confederate soldiers in Richmond, Va. The Dalai Lama’s book, “Beyond Religion” is one of the “blasphemous” books to which I referred. Actually, anyone who reads it might find otherwise.

The bookshelves above include reference books vital to my writing, including the Catholic Catechism for Adults, a thesaurus, dictionary and AP Style Book. There is also “The Inclusive Bible” published by Priests for Equality. (Sometimes I can’t help myself; I think a better title would be “The Inconclusive Bible” based on the number of Christian denominations). Oh, and maps. I have lots of maps.

So, I have a mini-library. History, biographies, theology, religion, spirituality, educational texts for teachers, college textbooks on every subject I studied in college, a collection on the Holocaust I bought at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington when I took sophomores on a field trip there. I have enough that I wouldn’t want to categorize or organize them, but I can find them.

And, it will remain that way. Considering discarding them was a really dumb idea. Nothing I’ve read has shaken my core beliefs – my worldview. I intentionally read books – fiction and nonfiction – that challenge my worldview. Ultimately, they may cause me to alter my views, or through examination, reinforce my beliefs. But I do not shy from the challenge. That is how readers become leaders.

That is a lesson lost on the leaders of Congress, specifically the United States House of Representatives. Reading a few books would serve them – and us – well. And, the Bible doesn’t count. They swore an oath on it and look where that has gotten us. So, the first reading assignment for the House leadership is to look up the definition of the word “Oath.”

© Michael M. Barrick, 2024.