Everyone's heard of banned books. The week commemorating this twisted exercise of human intelligence is Sept. 27 - Oct 4 and sponsered by the American Library Association (ALA) and the American Book Association (ABA). The Banned Books list is the result of decades of censorship, opression, repression, and challenge on the part of those who presume to dictate to the masses what they can and cannot think. In general, these books represent an attack on the sensibilities of those in power at the time of the book's publication. From a modern perspective, many of the sensibilities are outdated and paint the portrait of closed and bigoted minds.
Many of these books are no more harmful than a few words that are derogatory to certain races and people of color. Although these slurs have faded from general use, certain parts of society still cling to these old ideas. It is from these places that these books are continously expunged. These hurtful, antisocial ideas are passed down to children, propagating hatred and bigotry. All because of ink on wood pulp.
I think we all understand by now, whether we chose to consciously admit it or not, that exposure to ideas different from our own broadens our perspective and increases wisdom, should we choose to live by higher ideas and views that encompass all of humanity. Books are an interpretation, a representation of the world at the time of its writing. Great books withstand the feeble mind behind the forceful hand bent on control and destruction. These banned books are the great ones.
I have long wanted to do justice to these great ones and do my humble part to help liberate humanity from it collective by reading these fantastic works and digesting their ideas, culling and shaping their wisdom into my own, and keeping alive the wisdom shining at the core of the Great Human Experience. To that end, and curiosity, I will attempt to read one banned book every few months, and record my experience. I do not promise beautiful rhetoric or fluid poetic descriptions, but I will try. The aim, after all, is not to mesmerize you, dear reader, with my literary savvy. The aim is to welcome these books, outlaw fashion, into the bosom of the greater community of society where these ideas, dreams, fantasies and hopes can challenge and encourage us to live in a better way, to live fulfilled, with the grace of wisdom.
