For Guanlao, this is all he can ask for. The lessons learned from the 12 years spent watching over the Reading Club are extras. Foremost of this is trust. “It’s so hard to develop trust, but this has helped develop my trust and confidence in strangers.”
Another learning he has shared with people is how, despite the rise in the cost of living, some of the best things in life remains free. Guanlao recalls how people are shocked when they ask about the price of the books and he tells them they’re free. “They can’t believe it especially in a city like Makati. Then they take their pick and walk away happily into the sunset.”
In the spirit of the Reading Club, Guanlao himself owns no books of his own-all of them are available for other people to read and take. “If I keep it, it’s useless,” he says. “You read it and just tell me the story. That’s my attitude.”
This is Guanlao’s chosen devotion, to make sure that here, in this unexpected nook of the city, you can find a good book, leaf through it amid the smell of freshly-cooked fishballs and the machine-gun clatter of tricycles, and fall in love with books again. •
The Reading Club 2000 is located at 1454 Balagtas St., Barangay La Paz, Makati City. For inquiries, call 0915-7291526 or e-mail readingclub2000@yahoo.com
Ex Libris By: Ruel S. De Vera Philippine Daily Inquirer
I’d like to emulate his example.