To our patrons:
We live in interesting times.
Please be assured that Arlington Public Library remains committed to being a welcoming place that accepts all comers regardless of backgrounds, beliefs, origin, income status, and appearance.
We will continue to embrace inclusion and diverse points of view.
We will continue to inspire, to tickle your passion, to quench your thirst to know.
We will encourage you to ask why and why not?
We will continue to be a wellspring for ideas, for conversation, for disagreement, for enlightenment.
We will continue to educate and to provoke.
We will continue to create opportunities for increased understanding: of our world, of our community and of each other.
We will continue to honor truth and fairness, social justice and compassion.
We will stand up for each other and ask that bullies stand down.
We will do all of this as we have always done:
- With good will and humor and kindness,
- Through books and community programs,
- Within our walls and outside in the community.
We may live in interesting times and we will be there for you.
Diane Kresh
Director, Arlington County Public Library
Thank you for this message, Director Kresh!
Thank you for your comment and you are most welcome. We thought it was important to affirm.
Well said Diane, thank you!
Thank you for your comment and you are most welcome.
Thank you for this message!
Thank you for your comment and for your support of APL.
Thank you Diane.
Just… thank you.
I LOVE this message – such great thoughts captured here. Thank you, Director Kresh. Makes me proud to be an Arlingtonian.
your comments are right on if only everyone believed like you and the library; We have to keep trying every day.
Ann
Thanks to Ms. Kresh & all APL’ers for this heartening message.
I hope you will follow up with some practical & sustainable opportunities for community volunteers to help support the most vulnerable among us in these ‘interesting times.’
I’d be happy to tutor English language learners, for example, or help organize citizenship classes. Copies of the U.S. Constitution on every check out counter, perhaps?
These are some great ideas — let’s keep them coming.
Beautifully stated!
Thank you Diane, such a nice message, and that is why we love Arlington.
Many thanks for all of the appreciative comments. Let’s find some ways to keep the conversation going.
Outstanding statement. Keep up the good work!
Many thanks, Rosemary. We will.
Kumbaiya my lord kumbaiya
Many thanks for your comment.
Diane,
I do wish I could believe you meant what you wrote. Your words ring hollow to the eyes of a Trump supporter in Arlington however. The picture itself speaks volumes. Many these days preach their virtues and inclusion while practicing bullying and intolerance. The pendulum swings faster.
– The Forgotten Man
Thank you for your response.
Thank you so much for sharing these kind words. It is refreshing to live here in Arlington and the metro DC area where people of different cultures, religions, and backgrounds are represented and openly welcomed. I grew up in the South and had racist bosses who would make fun of minorities disguised as jokes, degrading them according to their differences and only served to make me feel degraded and marginalized. I can still remember Monday meetings where they started the meeting talking about politics. One of my bosses even made fun of my ethnicity. I never felt so insignificant and alienated at a work place. This was one of the big reasons I left the South. Thank you for standing up for ALL Americans. It is a pleasure to tell people I am from Arlington and the Washington DC area. I no longer feel shame when telling people where I live. Thank you.
Many thanks for sharing your story, Julie.
Dear Ms. Kresh, I am mystified as to why you felt a need to reaffirm the library’s values and mission. What has happened that made you feel this need?
And what is the significance of, “We live in interesting times”? I’m sure we are always living in interesting times.