Treasure the library

I've been volunteering at the library for more than a year now and it has been a very thought provoking experience.
I check in books and put items that are being held on shelves under the patron's name.Sounds mundane right?Actually I used to think the same until I really started noticing what people actually put on hold.
Other than a few friends of mine, who have stuff on hold, pretty much every patron is a faceless name to me, but what they mean to read speaks volumes about who they are.Sometimes some names become familiar enough to you that you almost know what they would have put on hold at the library-I know of a Jazz aficionado who puts a gazillion cds on hold.Weight loss books are another patron favorite-mostly women put them on hold.
Some holds are really funny- I had a lady once put a series of books on hold-all to do with pregnancy-but geared towards, itseems, a clueless boyfriend who needed to be educated on the seriousness of what was about to happen.Books titled, 'Dude,You're Gonna Be a Dad' and such.
Once it was series of books about helping children facing abuse and about how to extricate oneself from an abusive marriage-all held by the same lady...worrying.
I've seen my fair share of Trump supporters and detractors putting things both pro and anti Trump on hold.
Extreme academia-like SAT,ACT prep books are invariably held by-you guessed it-Asian patrons-very amusing!
And cookbooks-the Whole30 movement is catching on and those cookbooks are constantly on hold!
Parenting books-oh yes! Books on parenting toddlers,all the way to sullen teenagers-hot stuff!
Relationship advice-all the rage. Books on how to make your relationship,work,succeed,or how to extricate yourself... Last week, someone had put a book titled, 'It's Not You, It's the Dishes' on hold.Catchy huh?
Today there was someone who put a book on end of life directives on hold- scary thought that!
Then it struck me that the library patrons make up a microcosm of the world-in the US since we have public libraries, the ability to use it extends to all socio-economic levels and hence, a library's patrons truly represent the general population.
And whatever the upheaval around us, life goes on-birth and growth and food and shelter and relationships are still the core of our lives and we still let our thoughts revolve around them.
It was a comforting thought.After all change is supposed to be the only constant, but what remains constant, remains constant and that is what keeps us sane and calm and relatively happy.
I sit there and look at the books on hold and go through various emotions. Happy I don't need advice on relationships or child care, jealousy that some carb heavy cookbooks are out of my reach, nostalgia when I see travel books, especially the ones about France and Ireland, relief when I see books about illness and recovery, sadness when I see books about loss, worry when I see books about abuse. But on the whole I feel relieved-the world is the same though constantly changing. The circle of life!