Sam Jones never wanted to endow a library in Amherst, he left his money to his son. But his son died in the war, at age 28, so, instead, Sam Jones endowed a library. He really didn’t want to but it just worked out that way.
And, while he provided an endowment, it was actually the people of Amherst who built the Jones library. Hard-working people, simple people like us. They built that library that we have enjoyed for almost 100 years, with their own toil and sacrifice.
Now it is our turn. Now it is up to us to decide, to renew that dream that those hard-working people left us. It is our turn to stop living off the backs of our grandparents. The trustees, our elected officials, have now left it up to us. And if the people of Amherst do not want a modern library, then they should be allowed to decide by not sacrificing, by not supporting a capital campaign.
Because it a decision each person has to make for themselves, to decide if it’s worth the sacrifice, for their own personal reasons. Not the council’s decision, not the trustees’, not anyone else’s but us. Will Amherst be the last town in Massachusetts without a modern library? That is the question.
Kevin Collins
Amherst