There are many fights to be fought, but we can’t fight them all—even those we’re passionate about. As Bilbo Baggins said, it would make us “feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” With rising mental health issues and the limited impact of spreading ourselves too thin, we must choose our battles wisely. For me, that battle is defending people’s freedom to read and write any book they damn well please.

Of course, there are countless other causes I support. If I can help others fight for those causes, I will. However, I must stay focused and use the experience and education I’ve gained over the past 10+ years to fight for books and, more broadly, our First Amendment rights.

The First Amendment protects our freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. I believe this amendment truly makes our country great. It fosters open-mindedness, critical thinking, information sharing, congregation, and fellowship. While there are laws to prevent this amendment from being abused—such as those protecting children and prohibiting threats—many people are trying to categorize important novels like The Perks of Being a Wallflower and certain parts of U.S. history taught in schools as vile or inappropriate.

Why? Because many people in this country don’t want to be challenged or face harsh realities.

For now, I won’t delve into who these people are or what their motives might be, nor will I explore what’s being attacked. These topics will provide ample material for future posts and videos. Instead, I want to explain what I plan to do about this issue and why it’s so important to me.

I’ve been an English teacher for over six years and a writer for most of my life. Both my Bachelor of Arts and Master’s in Education are in English, and I’ve tutored students from age five to sixty in reading and writing for almost a decade. Needless to say, books are incredibly important to me. But it’s not just because reading is enjoyable or personally fulfilling—though those things are true. What’s truly important to me is how I’ve seen books transform people’s lives.

Books open people’s minds and hearts, help them cope with mental health issues, make them feel heard and less alone, and show them that there’s always a solution to every problem, even if it’s difficult. They illustrate how characters deal with intense problems, both externally and internally, teaching readers to empathize with people and cultures different from their own. The path to understanding (that singing kumbaya and holding hands around the world we saw as kids) begins with reading and hearing stories about other people.

On the flip side, I’ve also seen what happens when people don’t read or, even more disheartening, can’t read. The world becomes completely closed off to them, and anything different becomes borderline trauma-inducing. Think about those people who lose their composure when confronted with something that challenges their worldview. You’ve likely seen it on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. I’ve never met an avid reader of diverse books who reacts like that. They’re better equipped to handle differing viewpoints because they’ve already grappled with them in the books they’ve read.

But that’s just one example among many reasons why people need to read books, especially a diverse range of books. Well-read individuals who only ever read classic British literature might struggle with differing ideas just as much as someone who doesn’t read at all.

For instance, if you read a book like The Kite Runner, you can learn about the nuances of Afghanistan’s history and how the Taliban rose to power. You’ll understand that Islam is not an inherently hateful religion, as some still claim. Or if you read a book like Gender Queer (which I’ll admit was particularly challenging for me), you’ll better understand gender dysphoria and the difficulties the female body endures through puberty and beyond.

I can’t delve into all the pros and cons of books in a single post (and I haven’t even touched on writing yet!), but I wanted to give just a couple of reasons to help people understand why this is the fight I chose. Books—and by extension, reading, writing, communicating, and educating—are truly the foundation from which all other issues I care about stem. If we have books and people read them, the world will naturally become a better, safer place for everyone.

So here I go! Off to fight the good fight! Remember that you can make a difference too, even if it seems small in the scope of all the world’s problems. With a concentrated effort, we can all work together to make this world a better place to live.

Oh, and happy reading!!