Banned Books Week 2006

One of my favorite human beings in history and a damned good thinker and writer, Benjamin Franklin, once said, " Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech." It's no coincidence that old Ben and I think alike. I absolutely hold dear and exercise at every opportunity my ability and right to think as I wish, to read the thinking of anyone and everyone I take an interest in and to express as much as I'm able from my experiences. To me, reading, thinking and writing are at least as vital as the air I breath, the water I drink, the food I eat, the love I make, the sun in which I bathe and the trees of nature which feed my very spirit. Certainly, human beings approach these abilities in themselves and their freedom to exercise those abilities in a seemingly endless variety of ways. Many, however, and probably more than most of us would care to know, believe in censoring not only their own chances at experience, exercise of thought, exercise of exposure to the thoughts of others and exercise of their own inner voice but also are adamant that others and in some cases ALL human beings ought to be restricted in the same. We build extravagant fences with which to divide the real world but the ugliest most harmful fences we create are those within our own minds and those we impose on the minds of others. Censorship is an ugliness in which our species can ill afford to indulge and one our planet could very much do without.

The week of September 23-30, 2006 as the American Library Association's (ALA) Banned Books Week. It is time for us all to acknowledge the many books written by human beings that have faced censorship or attempts at censorship and to learn about and acknowledge those authors and books currently struggling with censorship or attempts at such. I invite you to visit the website, browse the materials and participate in any way you can during this week. Visit a library. Read a book previously banned or facing censorship now. And, as always, fight censorship throughout the year, every year of your life. Every voice deserves to be heard and every human being has a responsibility to themselves to listen. No one should be silenced. No one should be forgotten.

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm