The idea of a library full of books, the books full of knowledge, fills me with fear and love and courage and endless wonder. ~Elizabeth McCracken
The library saved my life.
There is a little bit of hyperbole in there, but there was a time when I felt mentally drained and was not looking forward to engaging with anything around me. And then I rediscovered the library. The library not only provided me with information and knowledge, but also a sense of community.
It was a place that allowed many different people, from all walks of life, to find a place to rest, to study, to use the bathroom, and so on. To some, these might sound trivial, but in a country that has an unhealthy obsession with capital and can only see value in people and places that have it, a place built upon the core tenets of community and being free (all interpretations are welcome) is revolutionary on its own.
And that's where Banned Books come in.
As libraries are the places where knowledge and information can be procured, books are the medium that serve as the deliverers of said info and knowledge. Books allow you to imagine worlds beyond those you are physically in. Books allow you to step into a time machine and marvel at the construction of the pyramids, gawk at the might of the dinosaurs, and ponder the evils of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Books allow you to find yourself while discovering new places and ideas you did not know about. Discovery leads to questions. Questions about the status quo. Questions about how the world works and, even more importantly, why it works that way, and the final part, “can it be better?”
Books are banned because of that question. The powers that be, the institutions, systems and people that benefit from the world moving as it does, do not want people such as yourself coming up with ideas that would challenge the current world that we are in. So a book is banned when they have a young girl question the role of racism in her town. Or it is banned when it is about the love between a girl and a vampire. There are many more, but they all expose the fragility of a government that can only function best when people do not have access to tools that allow them to imagine, wonder and the most dangerous of all, to question. Books are those tools and censorship is the enemy of not just books, but of a truly free people.
So go read, if you are able to. Relish in the ability to discover new parts of the world and of yourself that you did not know existed, and experience the joy of learning and growing and becoming something better because of it. It is very true that there might be some discomfort, betrayal and even denial in what you come to learn and discover. But banned books have been banned for a reason. They may range in quality or in ideas that you might not agree with but they all share a common thread that authority figures, elitists and those with power do not want you to read them. And that is reason enough. Go to your local library and find that second life, as I did and prepare yourself to take the first step on a wondrous, sometimes uncomfortable but ultimately, fruitful journey.