Amendment I:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
~Bill of Rights

If I did not enjoy reading as much as I do, there would be one way to get me to read a book.... ban it.

A couple of weeks ago, a high school on Long Island banned a book. My first reaction was to go straight to Border’s and read what was so objectionable. (My library does not have it... yet.) The book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, is actually a coming-of-age book; the story of a fifteen year old high schooler. I read the first couple of chapters and found the book quite inoffensive... but then, I have a high tolerance for subjects others may find offensive. I, actually, do not offend easily, if at all.

I do have strong opinions of things and accept that people have the same. My feelings are that if you impose your opinion on someone, you have to be amenable to having another opinion imposed on you. That, unfortunately, has not been my experience. I find that people who offend the easiest are the ones who offend because their opinions are not accepted.

So if I know that a book is being banned, my curiosity is piqued. If the story sounds interesting enough, I will read it. If not, no offense taken and I do not bother with it.

I ended up purchasing the book. I will encourage both my husband and my daughter to read it. It may not have been the school’s intention to bring notoriety to the author of this “objectionable” book, but alas, there is no such thing as bad publicity. In my opinion, “Perks” has now joined the ranks of other works of literature that have been banned throughout time, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Wrinkle in Time, Bridge to Terabithia, Leaves of Grass, and many, many others, including The Bible! Yes, The Bible was banned in the Soviet Union for twenty-five years. I wonder how many people that object to Perks find The Bible objectionable.

Hmm. I wonder if I can someday write a book and get it banned by a school?

“Every burned book enlightens the world.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson