What Boredom Taught Me

Stepping into a place that I can be transported,

To a new world,

In all different types of books,

Tables and chairs glistening in the blinding sunlight,

Books with all interesting topics waiting on the shelves,

Inhaling the strong fragrance of hand sanitizer,

The light scent of books,

Gentle whispers echo through the building,

The sound of parents shushing their children,

Books being thoughtfully placed back onto the shelves,

Sitting in a comfortable chair to start a new book,

Flipping through the delicate pages,

The library taught me boredom,

Time spent there with nothing to do,

Looking through all of the shelves,

Waiting,

The thought of sitting in silence doesn’t seem entertaining,

But it gets me to pause,

To think about everything around me,

To realize that I don’t have to be at home

To feel at home.

Olive Muggli-Toyloy

Olive Muggli-Toyloy is a sixth-grade student at Decorah middle school. She enjoys reading, baking and cooking, and crafting. She also enjoys singing, listening to music, and playing piano and French horn.

We created Future Focused, a new Inspire(d) column written by pre-teens and teens, to help give the next generation an opportunity to share their voices. Partnering with Dana Hogan, the Extended Learning Program teacher at Decorah Middle School, we offered prompts around the question, “What feels like home?” Students submitted some really great work, and five were chosen for this Inspire(d). You can read all the Future Focused pieces published so far at iloveinspired.com/category/future-focused. Here’s to Listening to the Next Generation! – Aryn

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