Not Sports: So I Guess This Makes Me A Jerk, Huh?

Normally, I am a library person and I love, love, love The Fort Worth Public Library. I mean what an amazing country we live in where anybody can walk into a library and check out any book in the world. For free.

My love of libraries, of course, precludes frequent trips to Barnes and Noble any really big bookstore. This is not to say I do not love B&N anyway. I have to since they are in bed with my single biggest vice, Starbucks, have a lovely location conveniently in almost walking distance and have a better than 90 percent chance of having whatever book it is that I really want to own.

So this is how I ended up at a bookstore on Thursday only to find myself confronted with what heretofore shall be referenced as Pet Peeve I: Sneaky Fake Corporate Charity. When I am purchasing my book, the salesperson asks if I want to donate money so that a book may be distributed to a needy child at Christmas. Immediately, I am confronted with a) Looking like a greedy, Christmas-hating, selfish jerkhole, or; 2) Contributing to what I consider a gigantic scam.

I mean if a corporation wants to donate books/coats/straight-cash-homey to really needy kids, by all means, do so. On your dime. Bookstores have to be a multi-billion industry, right? So why not just donate books? Or take a percentage of the money I just spent in your store and put that to books for kids? Or have your CEO give a percent of a percent of his bonus to buy said books?

Why do I have to buy a book for them to donate?

Bottom line is I did not and now I feel guilty, so much so I am contemplating going back and buying another book just so I can "yes" this time when asked. Or I guess I could raise money to support my local, non-guilt-producing library.