All book lovers in Bacolod City will surely rejoice on the return of MV Doulos on Feb. 12 to March 3, 2009.
I was one of the thousands of people who went on board MV Doulos several times when it first visited Bacolod City in December 2006. We got drenched by the rain several times but it was an experience I don’t mind going through again.
Constructed in 1914, only 2 years younger than the Titanic, MV Doulos is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest active ocean-going passenger ship. It is also the World’s Largest Floating Book Fair with 6,000 book titles on board which are donated by individuals and organizations.
Doulos is owned by GBA Ships, a non-profit organization in Germany, which aimed to bring “Knowledge, Help and Hope” to the people of the world. It is manned by 350 volunteers from 50 different nations.
I have always loved reading books and have eagerly waited for the return of MV Doulos. In this digital age, nothing can come close to the experience of reading a book and flipping through its pages with your fingers.
The love of books, digital or otherwise, should be nurtured by everybody. Reading is fun, you can be someone else in a different place and time without leaving your home.
Emily Dickinson has better words,
THERE is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry–
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll–
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human soul.
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