to displace: to take the place of

The Displaced Book Collector knows what it means to be displaced.  In his dreams, and only in his dreams, can he turn the pages of a volume of one of his JOHNSON'S DICTIONARIES until he comes to the very word itself:

dis-place: to put out of place, to remove.

A more modern addition to the definition of "to displace" is "to take the place of." This definition has more of a bearing on my current location than Johnson's original definitions.

Living in Florida, one could think I may have been displaced by a hurricane.  That is not the case.  Thus far, Mother Nature has spared me from suffering from the ordeals of her weapon of mass destruction.

There are some who have been displaced by the ravages of war. The Displaced Book Collector is one of them. Although my books are still in Florida,  I am removed to a place far away. I am displaced in Hawaii, taking the place of my son while he is in Iraq. Instead of caring for my books,  I am caring for my grandchildren until my son returns from the place where no weapons of mass destruction were to be found.

Granted, it could be worse.  My son could have been stationed at Minot, why not, North Dakota, and I would have been freezing; but the reason I'm not is because he is stationed in Hawaii.  And while there might be weapons of mass destruction in Hawaii, they will do me no harm.

War is hell for the Displaced Book Collector here in Hawaii.  I go to the beach, read a lot, go the beach and read a lot.  I do miss my books though, and in this blog, I will write about them so I don't forget about them.

Jerry Morris,
The Displaced Book Collector