EXPAND YOUR UNIVERSE THROUGH READING
Why Full Access to Books Matters
I’m at a loss as to the recent increase in book banning (cancelling). Are we getting ready for a Fahrenheit 451 moment? I remember books that have been cancelled since I was young. The first, “Little Black Sambo,” still reminds me of my envy of this exotic, young boy who lived with tigers and had unlimited pancakes. Never having met anyone like him, I became curious about where he came from and what his broader life might have been. Another banned book, “Huckleberry Finn,” inspired compassion for Jim, and a beginning awareness of a larger problem. We can’t understand or learn about things we never hear about. Books represent a powerful way to begin a journey of creating a wider world view.
Our past is what it is. We can’t scrub it over and pretend it never happened, nor should we want to. Evolution is a process of growing, changing and learning, so we can hopefully avoid repeating mistakes of the past. Now, the pace of “cancelling” is increasing, including trigger warnings on movies. I’m wondering how many people who are being “protected” actually wish that protection. To me, protecting people is infantilizing them; it’s destructive. It implies you can’t handle seeing or hearing something you won’t like.
My mother had the opposite approach. In my teens, she got us a copy of the book, “Candy.” We had heard about it and thought it was forbidden fruit, but now, it was openly available. After struggling through it, I told my mother I thought it was trash. She replied, “That’s why I wanted you to read it. Now, you can make a distinction between pornography and garbage. Just because a book has a sexual theme, doesn’t mean that it is worthless. You now have an insight into how to judge a work.” My mother was a practical sort and never stopped us from any exploration we could safely make. For the record, she came with me when I tried sky-diving and applauded my frequent forays to dive with sharks.
We grow in understanding as we learn about both wonderful, positive things as well as things that disturb us. In junior high, my teacher assigned “Soul on Ice,” by Eldridge Cleaver. The book offended me, bothered me and scared me. And yet, even as young as I was, I could distinguish this book from other books by black authors. He had his opinion and voice; many countered with positive ways forward that stopped short of advocating the raping of white women. We all questioned the validity of his arguments and yet understood the pain he felt that caused him to write in this way. Such is the goal of a real education.
The one universal characteristic of young children is curiosity; not judgment. When presented with a new idea, the next step is to begin asking questions, demanding to know “how”, “why” and “what.” They learn more quickly and easily than their elders, growing their understanding as they add new data to their database. The last thing we should do is limit the exploration, make assumptions as to how they view things which might appear to adult eyes to be problematic. Kids are actually very resilient and responsive. I’m reminded of a Mister Rogers episode where he invited the postman to share his wading pool and cool his feet on a hot day. The issue of racism was gently introduced, and kids understood the choice Rogers made in that moment. In fact, looking at those past episodes, he introduced a lot of ideas that today might be considered anathema, and yet, those episodes helped a generation embrace diversity, handle the difficult feelings that arise as you grow and learn to challenge beliefs.
Let’s stop protecting kids from ideas; we are stunting their growth as much as if I put my rabbit, Heston, in a hutch and let him spend his days alone. How do children learn to sort through ideas, create their own values and build an informed life if we adults decide what they can and can’t learn? The answer is the disaster we are witnessing, helpless, frightened children that have glommed onto a small set of correct ideas and can’t face being challenged with anything new.
