Compassion and Libraries: Lessons from Father Boyle

Sometimes inspiration comes from unexpected sources. I recently read a book that is possibly one of the most inspiring pieces of writing that I have ever encountered (and I read a lot). The book I’m referring to is “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion” by Gregory Boyle.
 
Okay, full disclosure: I’m not a very religious person. And I was not raised in the Catholic Church. But such is the power of this book—written by a Jesuit priest—that it could reach me as it has many others with its profound message of compassion (more on that later). Father Gregory Boyle, S.J., is the founder of Homeboy Industries, an enterprise  that seeks to offer, through work in its various projects, a path out of the life of despair and violence for “homeboys and homegirls” in East L.A. As Father Boyle conveys in his humorous and highly readable way, this has turned around the lives of many young people, but has also often been heartbreaking. At the time the book was written he counted over 160 men and women that he had seen killed by violence (in a recent newspaper article I read, that figure had climbed by another dozen). Often these deaths occurred just as the young man or woman had turned a corner and begun to pull themselves away from their former lives, having been killed just by being at the wrong place at the wrong time.  
 
You might think that such a book would be depressing. It is not. Boyle’s amazing gift is being able to remain positive and continue his important work despite the tragic setbacks. Not surprisingly, Boyle’s strength relies largely on his profound faith. But there is something more at work as suggested by the book’s subtitle: compassion. “Tattoos” is an amazingly insightful exploration of the concept of compassion. As we use the term, it often seems synonymous with “sympathy,” or feeling for someone else’s suffering. But as Boyle explains through the example of his life and work, it is more than that. Compassion is not only sympathizing with someone, it is, in a very real way, becoming that person.  Compassion is about erasing the boundary that separates us from others, even those that we would otherwise feel no connection with, or even scorn. Boyle writes: “Compassion isn’t about feeling the pain of others; it’s about bringing them in toward yourself. . .’Be compassionate as God is compassionate,’ means the dismantling of barriers that exclude.”
 
This is a very profound message and when the example is one who has dismantled the barriers between himself and the members of gangs, the reader is left wondering whether he or she could find that level of compassion.
 
But what does all this have to do with libraries? Well, beyond the obvious that such wonderful books, such transformative reading experiences, can be found in the collections of libraries, it is something more. Libraries lead us to higher callings, public libraries in particular. They are about democracy and the belief that if every person could be exposed to education and an opportunity for self-improvement, if the boundaries that separate us from one another and cause some in our society to get left behind, were erased, and everyone were equally able to read and succeed from early ages, then many of our societal troubles would vanish. I and other librarians truly believe that.
 
I had a late colleague some years ago in Texas who used to say librarians were doing “God’s work.” While I always thought of that as a bit of a joke, she was perfectly serious and now I can see why. Librarians at their best can and should be utterly compassionate with the people who walk in the door of the library. They can and should live by Father Boyle’s example to erase the barriers that separate them from their clientele regardless of how different they may be from themselves. And they can and should apply a missionary zeal to promoting reading and access to information for all people.  
 
That was the potential I saw in this work when I was a young librarian and I thank Father Boyle and his beautiful book for reminding me of that these years later.
To learn more about Homeboy Industries, visit their website at http://www.homeboy-industries.org/.