Take A Stand

"He who lends a book is an idiot. He who returns the book is more of an idiot."

- Arabic Proverb

What are the importance of a library? It surely isn't that minor of an importance, but the UK government seems to disagree. Their idea of closing down libraries all around the country brought millions of people in a uproar. Indeed, the budget needed to keep the libraries from closing, and that yes, they do need to make cuts, but destroying the libraries simply isn't the answer. Governments have a duty to care for their citizens, and if they take away all access of knowledge, how is that care?


I believe that libraries are worth standing up for, for they offer people, regardless of race, age, or history, a place to learn, a place to simply read. Not everyone can afford to buy books, and now everyone can afford a computer. If we were to buy books for everything we needed, from learning to enjoyment, the cost would be great. But in libraries, they offer access to both books of all genres and computers with internet access to search up all things. In communities where people don't have computers, they can go to the library for research. 


Books not only supply information, but they make you think, they make you question things that you've never thought about. They take you to places you've never gone before - past, present, future. They open up portals to horror, wonderment, love, hatred, to dragons and knights, from eras past to the present. They are a way of free speech, to be able to talk about whatever they like. Books allow the readers to dream, to escape reality into any world they want. Does the government have the right to take this away? 


Once, Neil Gaiman said "A librarian is the thin red line between barbarism and civilization." Without the access to books, where would we be? Surely not living as educated people, for the gift of language is what made us what we are, and what has took us this far in life. Removing books are just as bad as book burning, for what are we without free speech?