Banned Books Week

This is Banned Books Week, an event founded by the American Library Assn. back in 1982 and observed -- and debated -- ever since. Is there a fine line between protecting impressionable minds vs. the freedom of speech? It seems obvious that young readers shouldn't read adult oriented material. When is it OK to ban a book from the entire reading population? Should all books be available to every grown adult? The debate over "dangerous" books is never ending. The definition of what is considered dangerous or harmful is arguably the most difficult definition to come up with. Maybe a book called "1001 ways to commit suicide" or possibly a book called "how to kill people without getting caught" could be considered dangerous. The problem is, it isn't that clear cut. You won't see books with those titles. You will see such subject matter hidden inside works of fiction and and non fiction. Who's to judge? I can honestly say I couldn't take on such an ominous task. Nonetheless, books Americans have grown to love have, over the course of history, been banned. The freedom of speech must be defended, but to what extent? We would like to think that we enjoy freedom in our American democracy. As such, we expect to be able to exercise the free choice in what we read and write. Do we need censorship? I would like to say emphatically, no! However, I know what danger lurks between the leaves of those pages of many marketed novels. Yet, who am I to say you can't read it?