Altamont Library Notes for Wednesday, March 30, 2022
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The lions that guard the main branch of the New York Public Library were named Patience and Fortitude by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia during the Great Depression. Joe Burke, director of the Altamont Free Library, who wrote of those names at the start of the pandemic says now, two years later, the community has demonstrated those qualities.
Last week, I observed two anniversaries. Incredibly, at least to me, both fell on the same day, March 15th.
The first was the second anniversary of the Great Shutting Down of 2020. I still remember how quickly it happened. At the beginning of that week, we thought that COVID would pass quickly and not interrupt life very much and by the end of it, we were calling a special meeting of the library’s board of trustees to decide whether to close the library for two weeks.
Even at that point, a two-week closure was the longest that Altamont Free Library would have been closed in its 104-year history. Little did we know that none of the staff would come back to work in the building for three months!
I still remember that fear and anxiety of those first few weeks of the pandemic and those feelings are well documented in recorded Zoom meetings, video story times, emails to patrons and colleagues, and of course, weekly Enterprise columns! Here’s something I wrote two years ago in this column:
Outside the main entrance of the main branch of the New York Public Library on 42nd Street, there are two statues of lions, one on either side of the stairs leading to the library. For many years after the construction of the building, the lions did not have names.
During the long years of the Great Depression in the 1930s, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia finally gave those two lions the names they’ve had ever since, naming them after the two main virtues that New Yorkers would have to demonstrate in order to get through the tough times. He named one lion Patience and the other Fortitude.
Patience and fortitude are what we’re going to need once again in order to make it through the challenges of our own time. Patience will help us remember to be kind to ourselves and to others as we all work our way through this pandemic. Fortitude will help us do the hard work and make the difficult choices that will keep our community safe and healthy.
Looking back on it, it’s amazing how much patience and fortitude the Altamont community has demonstrated over the past two years. I’ll always remember the outpouring of empathy and community-mindedness that sprang from those first few months of the pandemic. I hope you do too.
Thank you all for the patience, fortitude, encouragement, support, and kindness you’ve extended to the library staff and me as we’ve struggled to cope with the pandemic. Obviously, we’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re getting there.
That brings me to the second anniversary: This past March 15 was also the first anniversary of me and several other members of the library staff getting our first dose of the COVID vaccine. That, for me at least, was the beginning of the return to normalcy. Again, we’re not quite there yet, but as long as people keep making smart, healthy choices and caring about their community, we will be.
Story time
Storytime is back at ARC! Please join us to gather together once more for our weekly Tuesday morning story times for children. Since spreading out is still important, and since it’s too cold to do it out in the park, we’ll be back at Altamont Reformed Church.
Please join us in the community room at Altamont Reformed Church at 129 Lincoln Ave. in Altamont on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for a super fun morning of songs, stories, and activities! Since this is an indoor program, all participants over the age of 2 must wear masks for the duration of the program. Many thanks to ARC for hosting us. We hope to see you there!