We wanted to take a moment to look at a juxtaposition currently happening within the walls of the Quincy Public Library. We simultaneously tackle harder topics, while trying to spread joy.
Currently, the Quincy Public Library has the unique experience of offering a traveling virtual reality experience on loan from the Illinois Holocaust Museum. It gives patrons the opportunity to listen to survivor stories from the Holocaust. But before you get there, you have to pass our Happiness Happens display.
With such a heavy & powerful topic as the Holocaust is, it is always good to remember that there is good in the world. There are helpers out there, trying to put good things into the world. Kindness, happiness, beauty, & joy all exist, even on the darkest of days. And thank you to our morning reference clerk, Elivia, who put together the Happiness Happens display in the lobby of the Quincy Public Library. It has books discussing kindness & happiness, books about do-good type of moments, & books featuring people who are actively trying to create a better world. This display is a lovely counterpoint to the heaviness that comes with the virtual reality trunk & we are so happy to have both going on at the same time here at the Quincy Public Library.
As Joseph Campbell once said: "We cannot cure the world of its sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy." Let's take a moment & live in joy.