Reprinted with permission from Brunswick County Early College High School’s The Firebird Times.

Throughout history, there have been horrors of all shapes and sizes. People are capable of horrible things. Throughout your schooling, think about how you learned history. You didn’t go back in time to learn about vast empires and wars; instead, you read about them in books. Books are an essential part of learning. They equip us with knowledge, language, and ideas. “Books are the plane, the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey.”-Anna Quindlen

However, recently opinions have arisen that certain books that discuss certain issues should be banned. Banned from schools, libraries, and stores. This means that children will no longer have books accessible to them about serious issues in history such as The Holocaust and segregation. I bet you’re thinking, “but these are really heavy issues to teach innocent youth.” And I agree with you! But, the things that these books talk about happened. They are real events. Awful, but real. Everyone needs to be educated about their history so they can be sure to not repeat it. “Those who cannot recall the past are bound to repeat it.”- George Santayana. Children are entitled to know the past.

In one of my favorite books (which is on the banned books list), Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury tells us a tale of a dystopian society with no books. If you’ve ever read this book, you know how awful a society like this sounds. You get your house burned down if you have books inside! It’s really scary to me that this issue was addressed in a book and now there are people who want to ban this informative literature.

I think we as a society should work hard to prevent the banning of literature. Knowledge is power. The more you know about your history, the less likely you are to repeat it. It is important to be educated about what has happened all across time. Not all history is sunny, but it is important.