Freedom of speech is granted in the First Amendment.  We are allowed to state our opinions and thoughts without repercussions.  With freedom of speech, we can say what we want.  In addition, we also can write what we want.

The thought of book censorship at GHS is just plain wrong.  It is not fair to think our teachers do have have the professionalism needed to teach us about a book, just because it contains some profanity -- specifically, Ryan Smithson's memoir, Ghosts of War. 

This story is about war and it is not sugar-coated to make us think that war is easy or that war is something that everyone can go to and come back unchanged.  It is the plain truth from a war veteran.

If we start to censor books just because they have a couple of lines of sexual references or profanity, then soon enough we'll be thinking that things are easy and always perfect.  All the of the books we will read will teach us that things are easy and perfect.  We would not know the real truth.

Ghosts of War is about a war that is going on now.  If we can't learn about current events as they are happening, when will we learn them?  When, if ever, will we be able to learn about a war if we can't even study it in our classrooms?