I’d been trying to determine when things started to slip.

That point when a generalized deterioration of civility, tolerance, and respect for acquired knowledge began?

I initially thought the cause was recent, a single overriding event that precluded other candidates from the dishonor.

However, as time passed, my perspective deepened. I now realize the exit began years ago with a three-stage withdrawal marking a single event.

Though Lee, Tom, and Norm Zolnierek died on different dates, their deaths collectively defined a single occurrence: the end of the old Mike’s Hardware, an end that rendered a gap in our community’s store of essential information.

The Zolneirek boys weren’t only plumbers, electricians, and logical thinkers. They were politicians. Early on, they acquired the ability to talk to people — all people — men and women, young and old, the quick and the dull, liberal and conservative, and those inflated souls scattered among us who think they know but don’t.

Communicating was fundamental to success in the hardware business.

Consider this:

Every Saturday morning, at Mike’s front and side doors, a queue of housewives would form with notes and sketches prepared by their husbands or transcribed from their dictations, describing a problem and its presumed solution.

The wives queued because their men were wedged in some basement closet, attic corner, or plumbing crevice, to which they would be unable to return should they ever retreat.

However, much of the information in their squiggles and wiggles had little to do with the actual problem or its solution. Those discernments required perception born of experience. Over the years, Lee, Tom, and Norm had seen them all: the complex and easy, the actual and supposed, and the manifestations of befuddlement caused by them.

The result was that many wives returned with solutions quite unlike what their husbands had sent them for. This was problematic for these innocent messengers, who had to confront cool receptions from husbands who required both a perception and ego adjustment. Only then could they implement the actual solution placed in their hands.

Local problems continue. As with generations before us, we confront issues inherent in the sexual education of our children. Many parents resolve to talk to their kids about sex in an informative, pragmatic way, but most never do. Some can’t. Mine never did — nor did I.

When I was in high school, the sole unit on sex education consisted of a film on swine propagation. The movie lasted about 20 minutes. No discussion followed. We were left to ponder whether masturbation caused blindness or impotence.

Now, kids can access the internet, where no question is unposed, any answer can be found, and violence is endemic.

Several state attorneys general allege that Mark Zuckerberg and his company have misled the public concerning the risks young people face on social media. Our surgeon general wants warning labels placed on some social media sites.

So much for finding a paternalistic attitude on the Web.

A local library book entitled “It’s Perfectly Normal” has caused some consternation. The book accurately describes information crucial to the health and welfare of young people experiencing changing bodies and minds. Puberty for both sexes predominantly occurs between the ages of 8 and 14.

The book is a well-conceived and designed educational tool that has sold over a million copies and received praise from numerous experts and sources: “Caring, conscientious, and well-crafted,” “Intelligent, amiable, and carefully researched,” and “A family-friendly guide to everything your kids ever asked you about sex, but you were afraid to ask.” It’s the Mike’s Hardware of sexual information for young people.

Though some elders may find portions of the book and its illustrations uncomfortable, none of the material is exotic or sensual. Genes and chromosomes, eggs and sperm, sexual reproduction, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, health, abuse, and law are all discussed, as are abstinence, birth control, contraception, and misinformation on the Web.

Images are drawn simply, basically, almost immaturely, sufficient only to convey the needed information effectively — which they do. Sexual organs are shown, their functions explained, and — it’s sex education, after all — some sexual acts are portrayed.

Yikes!

Adults using guides like “It’s Perfectly Normal,” or, if they don’t, allowing young people access to that information through trusted sources — like a library — will counter the negativity many attribute to these efforts and protect against false information from nefarious sources.

Parents want and deserve reassurance that their or some other positive influence outweighs the media or an uninformed peer group. They want their kids to grow up with accurate information about these essential issues and think of sex as a positive experience that not only can create babies but also promotes couples’ living in loving, enduring relationships.

Our library board was criticized for providing this material. Never have I seen a more explicit example of the adage, “No good deed goes unpunished.” They have been slandered.

I served on the library board for 10 years. Never once did I select a book or reject one. Book selection is accomplished by the professional staff, who are trained and have the experience to serve our entire community’s reading enjoyment and educational needs, per the board’s policies and the law. Our county Board of Commissioners lacks that discernment and should refrain from invitations to determine what we or our children are allowed to learn.

In my view, removing any of the fine people on the library board because they allow young people access to accurate information concerning these fundamental issues would be to follow faulty assumptions that could result in ineffective solutions.

The library board has demonstrated its integrity by being steadfast. This community should be proud of them. Their actions reflect real courage in an age when courage often appears only in pantomime.

Like Mike’s Hardware was, our library now is a community treasure. Losing it and the valid solutions it offers would be a tragedy.

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