Not long ago, I wrote a column entitled “The way playgrounds used to be.”

I lamented the loss of the big, gravity-challenging Twirl-a-Whirls, the tall steel slides one could run up to slide down, and those longboard teeter-totters capable of lifting troublesome taunters to heights that yielded apologies and reformation.

Why do I mourn their loss?

“Winds that bend young trees expand the tree’s roots — a metaphor for the intelligent rearing of children, who need the stresses of pressure and risk to become strong and rooted in the social soil.” — The Alpena News, Will, George (April 8)

Risks change.

The twirl-a-whirls still spin, but the forces guiding their rotation have been tampered with: What would previously have been thrown off now hangs on, skewing the balance, and what would have been discarded has gained an implausible grip.

Truth has become more elusive.

Some states — the “Sunshine” one chief among them — are passing laws limiting how schools and businesses address race and gender issues. These regulations eliminate the risk of teaching uncomfortable truths.

This risk-aversion trend has spread from playgrounds and classrooms. Now, it’s in kitchens, rummaging through drawers, looking for strainers to filter out the discomforting truth that excess calories carry a risk of obesity and diminished health.

It’s called the “anti-diet” movement — assertions that weight loss efforts should be avoided, as they create a cycle of shame, causing people to feel discomfort related to the risks of junk food consumption.

Consider this:

“Deaths caused by obesity, diabetes, liver disease, and hypertension have climbed to record highs over the past twenty years, and conditions that once only older adults experienced are now increasingly present in young children.

“The anti-diet approach essentially shifts accountability for the health crisis away from the food industry for creating ultra-processed junk foods laden with food additives, sugars, and artificial sweeteners.” — “As obesity rises, Big Food and dietitians push ‘anti-diet’ advice,” the Washington Post and the Examination in a joint investigation (April 3)

Now, sentiments of risk avoidance and discomfort elimination have come to our library.

The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act was passed in 1977. This legislation prohibits employment, housing, public accommodations, and education discrimination based on religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, and familial or marital status.

It promotes society’s tradition of pursuing life, liberty, and happiness by expanding opportunity, knowledge, and consciousness.

Michigan library regulations are in accord with the traditions of this legislation. I served on the library board for 10 years. It was an honor to serve in their protection.

In 2023, ELCRA enhanced its provisions. “Sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” were added to the law’s protection, an extension the Michigan Supreme Court had earlier made in 2022 when it ruled the term “sex,” as used in the act, included those added protections. “Sexual orientation” is defined explicitly as including heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.

Libraries serve all people all the time, but there comes a challenge from time to time. As Lincoln said, “You can please some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time.”

On any given day, there will be people who are not pleased with the library. What is the current displeasure?

A book: “All Boys Aren’t Blue.”

I’ve read it. It’s intelligently, compassionately composed, and relevant to a substantial minority of our youth. However, it pulls no punches with some of its descriptions and dialogue. It’s a little edgy, a little risky, and it can cause discomfort in some readers.

“Will this part of my story be met with pushback? Absolutely. But I’ll be damned if I don’t tell it because of fear. Sex is a part of growth as a human regardless of gender and sexual identity.”– “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” Johnson, George (2020)

Amazon calls it the Best Book of the Year, Teen Vogue — a Recommended Read, Kirkus Reviews: Best Book of 2020, New York Public Library: Best Book. Chicago Public Library: Best Book — the list goes on. It’s a New York Times bestseller.

Amazon finds it suitable for those 16 and older.

I served as a Probate and Family Court judge in this community for 24 years, adjudicating delinquency, abuse, and neglect cases.

During that tenure, I dealt with hundreds of young people traversing the travails of adolescence. Of that number, dozens had to struggle with issues of sexual identity.

Education and resources are vital to helping LGBTQ teens traverse what, for many, are their most challenging years, a population where the attempted suicide rate is significantly higher than the general population, as is the rate of homelessness caused by parental rejection. All these youths ever asked of me was to be treated with respect and decency, considerations I extended to everyone who ever appeared before me.

My mother made great soup. It was spartan but flavorful and nutritious, the kind only a woman who had survived the depression could prepare.

When I was 2 years old, I put a stone in the soup — likely a few leaves and some gravel went in, as well. I wanted to help, and it was my way of contributing — but I ruined the batch.

We have constructed and supported an excellent library and entrusted its operation to good people and the professionals they have hired. Together, they are charged with operating it according to the law and in the tradition of institutions serving generations as a refuge — a place to learn the truth about the world and about ourselves.

The library board deserves credit for maintaining that integrity by placing a well-regarded, controversial book in a location in its collection where it can do the most good — despite the risk of displeasure.

It’s not “my way or the highway.” Instead, it’s “our way” — a path for everyone.

Let’s not throw stones at our library.

It nourishes all of us.

Doug Pugh’s “Vignettes” runs monthly. He can be reached at pughda@gmail.com.