I can sit here and try with all my might to think, it’ll get better.

That somehow my cries for intellectual freedom will be the solution to the problem.

We do that often in education. Some people are just built that way too. Given this voice, this ability to be an advocate, this trait that feels like a gift and a curse at the same time.

We find ourselves standing there, in the trenches with the weight of the world on our shoulders, book in hand.

Shielding our students from the rants and criticisms of bigots, arming them with knowledge, critical thinking skills, and love.

You see that’s what librarians do. We have a duty to our students, and public librarians to the public. To allow them access to information, all sides of an opinion, and allow them to then make their own decisions on where their beliefs are. To give them a means of escape when the world may be too hard or when they just want to escape and go on an adventure.

Our job is to promote creativity. Our job is to show our students what reading can do for them, to instill in them the love for literacy we have. Our job is to care.

The past year has been a war on us. A war on intellectual freedom. The dangers of this war are very real and today we saw one of the potential consequences of it.

My heart is as heavy, just like my shoulders. It hurts and aches and breaks. For this world we are building in Florida. The world where hate wins. Hate should never win.

I am tired. I am sad.

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