Here's a man in Colombia who has two donkeys and a ton of books. He uses the donkeys to deliver the books to rural residents living in remote villages. He's the traveling library, the Bookmobile of the Andes. Only the wheels are legs and the van is a burro, hence...Biblioburro!
“This began as a necessity;
then it became an obligation;
and after that a custom,” he explained, squinting at the hills undulating into the horizon.
“Now,” he said, “it is an institution.”
I liked that, the explanation of how his giving away books, or lending them, became an established part of his world and that of the people he serves.
He needed to do it because they needed books and he knew it was important that they read and for him to help.
Then, after starting, he felt obligated, as now they were depending on him and his mules.
After awhile it became a custom.
Now it's an institution.
Why do I like this explanation of delivering books in the Andes by burro?
Because it describes how major institutions from the Catholic Church to the United States of America developed. First there was a need. Servicing the need became an obligation. Taken for granted, it became customary. Now they're institutions, marked by big buildings, and many of them, to take an idea and make it solid, where even little children, especially little children, can see it embodied in monuments, towers and buildings of stone.
And one guy on a mule in Columbia has explained it all in fewer than five words: Necessity, obligation, custom, institution.
Way to go, muleskinner!
The article from the NYT is below.
Let's see: Necessity, obligation, custom, institution. I'll have to try to remember that.